Glass. 

Rnnk . M 46" 



SUPPLEMENT 

TO THE 

MODERN HISTORY OF INDIA; 

BRINGING THAT 

HISTORY DOWN TO THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1788, 

WHEW THE 

IMPERIAL MOGUL DYNASTY, 

BY THE BLINDING AND DETHRONEMENT 

OT 

SHAH AULUM, 

VIRTUALLY BECAME EXTINCT. 



LONDON : 



PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, 
BY W. BULMER AND CO. CLEVELAND-ROW, ST. JAMES'S : 
AND SOLD BY J. WHITE, FLEET-STREET. 

1810. 



I 




PREFACE 



I have at length the honour of presenting to the public the 
concluding pages of the History of Hindostan, brought down 
to the year of our Lord 178S, when the late Shah Aulum was 
blinded and dethroned, and the glory of the Mogul Dynasty, a 
race of princes who had swayed its imperial sceptre during a 
period of nearly 300 years, became utterly extinguished ! This 
portion of its history will be found by no means the least 
interesting ; and I have only to lament that it makes its appear- 
ance before the public so late, and in this supplemental form. 
I( was impossible, consistently with other occupations, earlier to 
complete the arduous work, and the form is that which neces- 
sity dictated. This concluding portion being of so slender a 
bulk, it was thought proper to carry on the pages from the 
former volume, in order that, by those who please, it may be 
bound up with it. The work, however, is distinct and com- 
plete in itself; containing the final section of the History, from 
the death of Aurungzeb to the subversion of the Mogul 
empire. 

In this latter peiiod of the Indian history, it was necessary to 
have recourse to an infinite variety of works, published both iu 
Europe and Asia, of which the most important are occasionally 
pointed out in the notes ; but it was deemed useless to burthen 

b 



[ » ] 

the page with multiplied references on subjects so recent. It 
may be proper, however, to inform the reader, that the basis of 
what is here submitted to his candid consideration is a work 
written in Persian, by an author mentioned in the letter to 
me from Sir W. Jones, inserted below, Gholam Hossain 
Khan, a native nobleman of Bahar, and the title of it is Seir 
Mutakhaeeeist, or a View of Modern Times.* 

* This letter was an answer to one which I had sent him, containing proposals 
for a General History of India ; but upon a more limited scale than that upon which 
I was afterwards encouraged to undertake it. 

Chrishna-Nagar, ioth October, 1790. 

Dear Sir, 

It is not possible for me to forget the pleasure which I have 
received from your conversation, and the opinion which I always entertained of 
your parts and industry. The arduous undertaking, of which I have just perused the 
plan, fully justifies my opinion ; but I am so oppressed with a heavy arrear of bu- 
siness, that I cannot write at large on the subject of it. I will desire my agent in 
London to subscribe for me, and will do all I can to promote the subscription here. 
Such is the expense of printing at Calcutta, that it would cost thirty pounds ster- 
ling to reprint the pamphlet ; but the proposals shall be reprinted, and carefully 
circulated. I am confideut that you might learn Persian in six months, (if you have 
not learned it already,) so well at least as to read the original text of Ferishta, 
whose work, with submission, is very highly esteemed by all learned Indians and 
Indian scholars. To an historian I must express every truth, even though friend- 
ship might induce me to conceal it;**************. Let me, 
at the same time, exhort you not wholly 1 to rely on my authority ; for, though I 
have diligently avoided errors, yet I have made many : for instance, Por, a word 
which I found for Porus in the Shah-Nameh, is, I now find, pronounced Pur, or 
Poor, by the native Persians ; and I have reason to believe, from Sanscrit authori- 
ties, that the true name of that prince was Paurava. If you read Persian, Mr. 
Boughton Rouse will, I dare say, lend you the Modern History of India, by 
Gholam Hossain. Farewell, my Dear Sir, and believe me to be, with great 
regard, 

Your ever faithful humble servant, 

WILLIAM JONES. 



[iii] 

It must ever be a subject of deep regret to me, that I did not 
on the receipt of that letter resolutely sit down, and make my- 
self master of the Persian language, at least so far (to use the 
President's words) as to translate Ferishta. But at the time of 
life at which I received that advice it is rather irksome to return 
to the Grammar, and Persian books, and MSS. were not quite so 
common as, happily for Eastern literature, they are at present. 
I had, also, at that period, the honour of being known to some 
distinguished Persian scholars, who, on my solicitation, would 
at any time have translated for me any difficult passages in 
Ferishta, or Hossain. Both those authors, however, had been 
already translated : sufficiently well for all the purposes of 
general history ; and the reader will be pleased constantly to 
bear in mind that it is the grand outline, the leading incidents 
only of the Indian History which I have attempted to pourtray 
and record in a regular and connected manner; not with a view 
to inform Indian scholars, but to gratify individuals, unlearned 
in the lore of Brahma, to whom such a connected history was a 
desideratum. Colonel Dow's translation of the former is not 
destitute of elegance ; but, unfortunately, that o f Hossain by 
Mustapha. a Frenchman, converted to Mahommedism, and 
sailed in Bengal, is in that respect greatly deficient. Facts, 
how ever, were my object ; I cared little about the vehicle in 
which they were conveyed ; and from the specimen of those 
parts of the original author with which Colonel Scott has ob- 
liged the public, however defective the language, and, some- 
times, even the grammar of Mustapha may prove, the facts 
themselves, in general, seem to be narrated with fidelity. 

This work of Gholam Hossain* commences at the death of 

* The Persian original is in two folio volumes ; the English version in three 
quarto volumes, price ten guineas ! Calcutta printed, 1788. 



[ iv ] 

Aurnngzeb, with which event my second volume concluded, 
and carries us down through seven reigns of Mogul emperors, 
the seven last emperors; if indeed, after the calamitous visita- 
tion of Nadir Shah,, the term emperor may with any propriety 
be used. The names of those emperors are Bahadur, J eh and ur, 
Ferokhseer, Mahommed Shah, Ahmed Shah, Aulumgeer, and 
Shah Aulum ; for Hossain seems not to have numbered among 
the legitimate sovereigns of Hindostan the two young and un- 
fortunate princes, for a few months exalted to the imperial 
musnud, alter the death of Ferokhseer, by the rebel Seyds. 

The same work, also, contains what I am given to understand 
from very respectable authority is a tolerably impartial account 
of English transactions in India. That circumstance, however, 
was not of very material importance to this history, for though 
I have brought the Mogul annals down nearly to the close of 
the 18th century, I found myself compelled by the forcible 
arguments adduced in page 639 following, to decline bringing 
the military transactions of the English in Goromandel lower 
down in time than the expulsion of the French from Pon- 
dicherry in 1761 ; and those of Bengal, posterior to the 
important period of the appointment of the Company to the 
Duanny, iii J 765. Of so extensive, various, and complicated 
a nature are those details it was found by the lowest compu- 
tation, as there truly stated, that they could not be comprised 
in less than two large additional volumes, and the leading facts 
are already before the public in a variety of very esteemed 
publications, lor the most part composed by the Company's 
civil or military officers on the spot. 

After all I must be allowed to observe, that, however im- 
portant these events of a century or two back may appear, and 
are in fact to us, as Britons, they are still but of inferior 



[ * ] 

moment, of subordinate interest, when compared with the great 
line and majestic march of i is genuine history, which is princi- 
pally concerned, in recording the struggles for empire, through 
a series of ages of the two great powers, Hixdoo and Mahom- 
medax. We have seen and traced ihose mighty struggles from 
the first invasion of India, by the generals of the Caliph 
Valid in the eighth century, nearly three hundred years before 
Ferishta's history of the Gaznavide sovereigns commences, 
and have brought them regularly down to the last dreadful 
battle of Paniput, illumining and expanding, as we proceeded, 
the narration of Ferishta, by the information derived from 
Abulfeda, Abulpharagius, Al Makin, Mirkhond, and the native 
historians of Gengis, of Timur, of Nadir Shah, and Abdallah. 

The more ancient of these valuable Persian and Arabian 
authors had already been piesented to the public, with elegant 
Latin versions, by Poeock, Erpenius, Reiske, Gagnier, and other 
learned orientalists of the last century; were procured by me 
with much difficulty ; at great expense ; and perused with that 
attention, which was necessary to prepare me to write on the 
subject of an Asiatic history. For India, in fact, constitutes so 
large a portion of Asia, and has been for so many ages the ob- 
ject of plunder to the most celebrated warriors of the East, that 
its history on the large scale, as well ancient as modern, naturally 
embraces a very considerable proportion of that of the conti- 
nent on which it stands. The adventurous author therefore, 
who engages in that history, must be provided with materials 
proportionate to the magnitude and extent of his subject. 

Whoever will please to consult my list of books expressly 
collected lor the purpose, and inserted in the first Volume of 
Indian Antiejuitics, (edited so far back as 1192) will find these 



[vi 1 

authors, besides an infinity of others scarcely less rare or costly, 
with the dates of their respective editions, as here enumerated. 

Historia Regni Grascorum Bactriani, Auctore J. S. Bayer, Petropoli, 1738. 

Abulfedas Annales Muslemici, Arab, et Lat. 5 torn. Hafniae, 1789. 

Abulfaragii Hist Dynast. Arab, et Lat. P0cockii, quarto, Oxon. 1663. 

Abulfaragii Specimen Hist. Arab. Opera Pocockii, quarto, Oxon. 1659. 

Al Makin's Hist. Saracenica, Studio Erpenii, quarto, Lugd. Bat. 1625. 

Ulug Beg's Epochal Celebriores et Chorasmia, Oxford, 1650. 

Abulgazi Bahadur Khan's Hist. Genealog. des Tartars, octavo, Leyder, 1726. 
Maffeii Historia Indica, folio, Amsterdam, 1589. 

Abulfedse Vita Mohammedis, Studio Johannis Gagnier, folio, Oxon. 1723. 

Historia Priorum Regum Persarum, Mirkhond. Vienna;, 1782. 

Sherefeddin's Life of Timur Bee, by M. Petit le Croix, 2 vols, octavo, Lond. 1723. 
M. Petit le Croix Hist, of Gengis Khan, octavo, Lond. 1723. 

Mirkhond's History of Persia, octavo, Lond, 17 1 5 . 

Dr. White's Institutes of Timur, Persian and English, quarto, Oxon 1783. 

Ahmed Arabsaida? (Ahmed Arabshah) Vitas, et Rerum Gestarum Timuri, Hist^ 
Arabice et Latine, Opera S. N. Manger, 3 vols, quarto, Leovardias, 1767 

A short account of each of these works, and their authors, is 
given in the prefatory chapter of the second book of this his- 
tory,* under date A. D. 600, previously to my commencing 
the history of the Mahommedan invasions. 

It is not from ostentation that I have ventured to mention 
these facts, and appealed to these early and incontrovertible 
testimonies of my zeal and diligence, but to vindicate myself 
from the charge brought against me by certain Reviewers, of 
having undertaken to write a history without any knowledge 
of the subject. Of however little value my continued labours, 
at once injurious to my health, and run ous to my circumstances, 
may appear in certain quarters, my exertions at this period of 
the history so forcibly struck Dr. White, the Arabick professor 

* See Modern History, Vol. I. p. 1 68. 



3 



[ vii ] 



at Oxford, that in a letter addressed to me soon after the pub- 
lication of my first Volume in 1804, he condescended to encou- 
rage me to proceed, in terms almost too flattering to be repeated. 
His very friendly letter concluded with these words, " Your 
Modern History of Hindostan is, in my opinion, a performance 
of unrivalled merit. It is at once, most classically elegant, most 
truly judicious, and most highly interesting." 

Thus much for Mussulman and other writers, from the age 
of Mahommed downwards. I agree in opinion with the Re- 
viewers, above alluded to, that the Modern History of India 
properly begins at the period of their earliest invasion of that 
country, and the term Classical History of India, which I had 
applied to the period terminating with the death of Alexander, 
should have been continued down to the birth of the Arabian 
impostor. In this division of the work I stand before a higher 
tribunal than the Judicature of Bengal, and with confidence, 
because I am not conscious of having neglected to take the ad- 
vantage of any light that could be thrown on the history of 
India by classical writers from Herodotus toCosmas, or of having 
omitted to compare their accounts with whatever has been yet 
published from Sanscrit sources of information in Europe. 
The cause of this portion of the work appearing of such 
limited extent and inferior importance, notwithstanding it em- 
braces several centuries, arises from this circumstance, that, in 
composing it, I adhered closely to historical fact, although, by in- 
termingling, as has usually been done by preceding authors on 
India, elaborate descriptions of the arts, the sciences, the civil 
and religions institutions of the Indians, with the substance of 
the history, I might have swelled this particular portion of 
the work to an immense bulk. I had, however, previously in 



a manner exhausted that subject, and thrown the whole mass 
of information derived from that source into the volumes of 
Indian Antiquities. This was done at a very early period of 
the undertaking by the advice of a Person of very distinguished 
rank in life and literature, and whose own Lectures on Modern 
History, which I attended at Oxford, would, if published, 
reflect upon him the highest honour. It was the decided opi- 
nion of this accomplished judge of historical composition, that 
I should avoid incumbering the page with matter not immedi- 
ately relevant to the history ; but clear my way by throwing 
every thing of that kind, arranged under their proper heads, 
into previous dissertations, which leaders might consult at their 
pleasure. " If you do not this," added he, <: you may depend 
upon it your book will lose half its interest, and will probably 
be condemned to moulder on the shelves of your bookseller." 
This advice gave birth in my mind to the first idea of com- 
posing the Indian Antiquities, and if the public have been at 
all gratified by that publication, they are indebted for that 
gratification to the present Right Honourable and learned 
Judge of the Admiralty Court. This advice was obligingly 
accompanied by a list of subscribers to the intended publica- 
tion of the very first rank in literature, among whom were Mr. 
Windham and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Shortly after, the gen- 
tleman mentioned in Sir William Jones's letter, Mr. Bough ton 
Rouse, brought me another splendid list of names, with the 
great Edmund Burke at their head, with the addition of some 
friendly hints from Mr. Burke, upon which I also improved.* 

* Mr. Burke, among other things, objected to the title of my book, which at first 
ran thus, " The History of Hindostan, Sanscreet and Classical, from the Birth 
of Brahma." I explained my meaning to him afterwards in a personal con- 



[ * ] 

On this interesting subject of the highly flattering encourage- 
ment, afforded to this work at its commencement, as I am not 
likely very soon to appear again as an historian, before the 
public, I must beg permission to be a little more diffuse. 

The anarchical and turbulent times in which these volumes 
successively made their appearance must ever be remembered, 
nor is the danger perhaps yet entirely over. They were deemed 
important towards checking the progress of Gallic scepticism, 
which had erected on the debateable ground of India, and its 
presumed unfathomable antiquity, its loftiest standard of defi- 
ance ; and had they not been checked, that ambitious nation 
would, by this time, probably have planted standards there of 
a more permanent, they could not of a more fatal, kind. Ani- 
mated by the genuine spirit of patriotism, several of the greatest 
and best men of the age stood forward to befriend my infant 
undertaking. Among these it would be the basest ingratitude 
to omit mentioning a third list, which rapidly followed, the 
spontaneous generosity of the honourable and ever to be lamented 
Mr. Elliot, brother-in-law of Mr. Pitt, with the respected name 
of that great statesman, Mr. Thelluson, Mr. Thornton, and some 
others ; a fourth, still more numerous, of the Right Honourable 
Henry Addington, at that time Speaker of the House of Com- 
mons ; the munificent goodness of Earls Spencer, Carysfort, and 
several other noblemen ; and the continued friendly offices of the 
Editors of the British Critic. Nor will the pride of virtuous and 
gratified ambition permit me to be silent in regard to the 

ference, that the Hindoos had various systems of the cosmogony, but that the pre. 
sent was the " Lotos Creation," that is to say, our system commenced at the epoch 
when Brahma burst from the egg recumbent upon the Lotos that floated on the pri- 
mordial waters. He was still dissatisfied, and said, " it would appear affected." I 
instantly, therefore, expunged the obnoxious words. 

C 



[ x ] 

honourable public testimonies in my favour of the learned, but 
still unknown author of the Pursuits of Literature ; of that ex- 
cellent scholar and prelate the Lord Bishop of Lincoln, in his 
Elements of Christian Theology ; and that still more substantial 
proof of desert, the Letter sent by the late venerable Archbishop 
of Canterbury, and that most eminent and able judge of classical 
excellence, the late Earl of Rosslyn, to the East India Directors, 
in the most express terms recommending my undertaking to 
the patronage of the Court. 

As this was the only instance ever known of such an appli- 
cation in favour of an individual to a great Commercial Com- 
pany by two such distinguished characters, the one at the head 
of the Church, and the other of the Law of this country, my 
hopes were naturally raised to a high pitch ; and though by 
the result not fully gratified, they were not wholly disappointed ! 
I beg respectfully to state, that I still encourage hopes, from the 
justice and liberality of the Company, that the Letter in ques- 
tion, which still stands on their books, may finally obtain for my 
advancing years, some more ample remuneration than it was 
thought proper at that time to grant, (£00/.) towards the comple- 
tion of a work which, with the maps and engravings that illus- 
trate it, has cost many thousands. Nearly twenty years of the 
best portion of life have been consumed in the composition of 
this work, and nearly the whole of a not very extensive income 
has been devoted to its completion, during a series of years in 
which, unfortunately for me, all the materials of printing have 
gradually advanced to treble their value at the period of its 
commencement. 

But retrospects are unavailing ; it is now completed, and on 
the comprehensive plan upon which I proposed to execute it, 
consisting of, 1. T he Ancient India, in two volumes, quarto, 



[ xi ] 



with eighteen illustrative engravings. 2. The Modern India, 
also in two quarto volumes, together with this Supplement, and 
a coloured map of India, by Arrowsmith, according to its latest 
divisions. And lastly, though first published, The Indian 
Antiquities, in seven volumes, octavo, w r ith thirty engravings 
on quarto plates. This latter work, I must again observe, is an 
essential appendage to the Ancient India ; the contents of those 
volumes must be considered as illustrations of that work,* and it 
ought properly to have appeared in a quarto form, to bind up 
uniformly with the volumes with which they are so inseparably 
connected. 

That a work of this magnitude and extent, and in its early 
portions so abstruse and intricate, should have been accom- 
plished by an individual, not only unassisted, but pertinaciously 
obstructed, amidst increasing difficulty and unmerited obloquy, 
will, by all considerate persons, be thought of as it deserves. 
However neglected by the present age, when party rage and 
jealous competition shall be extinguished in the grave, posterity 
will do justice to my page ; and to posterity I appeal with the 
confidence of a man who has, at least endeavoured to merit the 
applause of his country. 

* It may be agreeable to fomc of the encouragers of this work, to know that art 
effort of that kind was, some time ago, made ; but from the enormous expence 
attending it, the project was relinquished, when one large volume, elegantly printed 
by Bulmcr, and comprehending nearly three of the octavo volumes, was completed. 
The whole now remains in that imperfect state, in Mr. Fauldcr's. possession. 



SUPPLEMENT 

TO THE 

HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA. 



Retrospective moral View of Events in the preceding Reign.—* 
Dreadful Battle between the Sultans Mauzim and Azem. — 
Mauzim victorious, Azem killed — the former ascends the Throne 
by the name of Bahadur Shah. — The new Emperor marches into 
Deccan, where his younger Brother, Sultan Kambuksh, had taken 
up arms to oppose him.— 'A Battle ensues, and Kambuksh is slain. 
— Origin and History of the Seiks. — The Emperor marches 
against them ; is taken suddenly ill, and dies after a short Reign 
of six years.— Succeeded by Jehander Shah, a weak effeminate 
Prince, deposed by the Seyds. — Furrukseer, who granted their 
Firmaun to the English East India Company, deposed and mur- 
dered by the same Omrahs. — Raffeih al Dirjat shares the same 
melancholy Fate. — Raffeih al Dowlat, an Infant, escapes a 
violent, by a natural, Dealh. — Mahommed Shah vanquishes the 
Seyds, and restores the imperial Authority. 

The very singular fact of Aurungzeb having been treated at 
various periods of his reign with the same marked disobedience 
as a father, and the same disloyalty, as a sovereign, by four out 
of his five sons, which Shah Jelian had experienced from himself, 
is a circumstance that exhibits a memorable proof of the just 
dispensations of divine Providence. Mahommed, engaged in 
open rebellion, perished at Gualior. Mauzim, repeatedly im- 



[A. D. 1707. 



plicated in rebellious projects, was imprisoned for six years in 
Deccan, and had just obtained his liberty when Gemelli visited 
Aurungzeb's camp in 1635. Fear probably dictated his being 
sent to Cabul, and kept at as great a distance as possible from the 
Presence. Akber, the beloved Akber, still more keenly wounded 
the feelings of his father, by joining the forces of Sambajee, his 
bitterest enemy ! He fled to Ispahan and died there in the year 
preceding the death of his father.* Azem had plotted with his 
relative the King of Visiapore, previous to the final conquest of 
that kingdom ; but being restored to favour, had ever after 
maintained unshaken loyalty and affection. Kambuksh, too, the 
youngest, was deeply infected with the ambition of his brothers, 
but being yet young, had committed no open act of disloyalty 
against his father. The preceding pages display to us a dreadful 
picture of crimes and consequent punishment ; and hold up an 
awful lesson to filial ingratitude and disobedience. 

The same indomitable spirit of ambition that led his father to 
spurn at a divided empire, induced Sultan Azem immediately to 
commence his march for Agra and Delhi, where he hoped to 
seize the imperial treasures ; nor would he listen to the very 
generous overtures made him by his elder brother towards an 
accommodation. A long and severe imprisonment had taught 
the latter, during his father's life time, the useful doctrine of 
disguising his sentiments ; and one of his own nobles, Eradut 
Khan, declares it to have been universally reported, under the 
sanction of the prince himself, that rather than harass the king- 
dom by new contentions for imperial honours, he would retire 
into Persia. The jealous Emperor's death, having freed him 
from restraint, Mauzim also, without delay began his march 
from Cabul for Delhi and Agra ; and by the strenuous exertions 
* This fact is asserted hi Scott's Deccan, vol, ii. p. 122. 



A. D. 1707.] I 503 3 

of his wise and faithful minister, Monauim Khan, in whose praises 
our author is lavish, every means of expeditious advance being 
rapidly prepared, the treasures both of Delhi and Agra, that had 
been collecting since the time of Akber, were fortunately secured 
to him who, as the elder son, seemed to have the greatest claim 
to them, " treasures that might enable him to support, if he chose, 
all the troops to be levied in the empire."* 

The rival armies met at the river Chambul, which Mauzim 
had placed in his rear, and seldom in India have two such mighty 
hosts appeared in arms against each other. That of Mauzim con- 
sisted of 170,000 horse and 150,000 foot, 3000 elephants, and 
3000 pieces of cannon ;-f- and that of Azem was little inferior ; 
but it will be recollected that the two princes shared between 
them the collective forces of the empire, and with the followers 
and attendants their armies together must have amounted to a 
million. The battle was fought on the 9th of June 1707, and 
maintained with an obstinacy equal to the importance of the con- 
test. In fact, the princes fought for the sovereignty of an empire, 
at that time in extent and wealth unrivalled ; their attendants for 
their all. Most of the great Omrahs who had served under 
Aurungzeb displayed their standards in the line of Mahommed 
Azem, and the greater part of them fell, together with the two 
elder sons of Azem. Nevertheless, Azem stood his ground until 
he was left with only 6000 horse, which were surrounded by ten 
times the number, when, to avoid the disaster of captivity, and 
the remembrance of this fatal day, he stabbed himself to the 

* Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 42. 

t These numbers may appear improbable, but they are stated to have been of 
this vast amount both by Orme and Frascr. (Orme's Fragments, p. 307. Frascr's 
Nadir Shah, p. 39.) That of the elephants is least credible, as scarcely half of the 
number ever appeared at one time in the field. 



C 504 3 



[A. D. 1708. 



heart with his poniard. No victory could be more decisive, and 
Mauzim immediately mounted the throne, and was proclaimed 
Emperor b}' the assumed name of Bahadur Shah, which he had 
taken before he left Cabul. 

Vengeance, however, still cried from the ground on account 
of the accumulated murders of Aurungzeb, and another victim 
was yet demanded from his family to satisfy omnipotent justice. 
It has been already stated, that a few days before his death he 
had dispatched Kambuksh " his son, nearest to his heart," being 
his youngest, and by his favourite Circassian wife, to Visiapore, 
and his will enjoins that he shall not be molested, if he rested 
content with that Soubah and Golconda ; a third portion certainly, 
and not the least abundant in riches, of his immense empire.' 
Kambuksh, however, inflamed with even more ardour than his 
brother Azem for independence, immediately on his arrival at 
his government, ordered himself to be proclaimed Emperor in 
the Kootba, or public prayers, and coins to be struck in his own 
name, the decided token of royal distinction. Hurried away by 
ambition and all the headstrong passions of youth, his conduct is 
represented by our historian as almost bordering on insanity ; on 
the slightest suspicion devoting to tortures and even to death the 
most beautiful women of his haram, his most tried friends, and 
his most faithful servants.* Notwithstanding this intemperate 
conduct of Kambuksh, as he was the beloved son of Aurungzeb, 
and invested by that prince himself with the southern govern- 
ments, the most powerful nobles of Deccan, whether Mussulmans 
or Hindoos, at first enlisted under his banners ; but his perse- 
verance in these atrocious measures soon lost him their support, 
and the greater part of them retired in disgust to their own 
districts, where they fortified themselves in the best manner 

* Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 31. 



A. D. 1708.] 



C 505 3 



they were able till this contest for the throne should be de- 
cided. 

Taking advantage of the distracted state of public affairs 
about this time, also, many of the Rajapouts began to manifest 
symptoms of disaffection. Indignation at the unrelenting se- 
verity with which both their religion and themselves had been 
treated by Aurungzeb still burned in their bosoms, and they 
panted to retaliate on the race of Timur the series of injuries 
under which they had groaned for so many ages. Powerfully 
impelled by these circumstances, the new Emperor commenced 
his march for Deccan at the head of an army superior in number 
by 100,000 men to that which had accompanied his father thi- 
ther ; all the princes of the empire and a vast concourse of 
nobility attending in his train. Kambuksh had left Visiapore, 
and encamped at Hyderabad, and Bahadur, anxious to reclaim 
his brother without having recourse to arms would advance no 
farther than Aurungabad, whence he wrote to him letters, 
couched in the most importunate and affectionate terms, request- 
ing that, if possible, their differences might be adjusted, without 
the shedding of any more fraternal blood. In addition to the 
two provinces he offered to confer upon him the Nizamut of the 
Deccan, with unlimited authority in the south, the revenues of 
all which united, he observed, were equal to half of the revenues 
of the empire itself. He concluded by declaring that if he as- 
sented to this generous proposal he would, after paying a visit 
to the hallowed tomb of their father, return with all his forces 
to Hindostan.* 

Callous to all the kindness, and deaf to all the remonstrances 
of his brother, Kambuksh continued his preparations for war 
with increased activity and vigour. Independently of the natural 

* Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 34. 
VOL. II. 3 T 



C 506 i [A. D. 1708. 

impetuosity of his disposition, which disposed him for war rather 
than peace, he was induced by some religious impostors who had 
found their way into his court, to believe that destiny had decreed 
him the empire ; and that, in urging his claims, though millions 
opposed him in battle, he would be invincible. His enthusiastic 
confidence in the venal predictions of these hypocritical fakeers 
urged him on to the field, and though deserted by all the Omrahs 
of ancient family and military renown, who were disgusted with 
his folly, his tyranny, and his insane reveries, the rash prince, 
with scarcely twenty thousand men, resolved to risque a general 
engagement, opposed to an army of ten times that amount. 
Bahadur, finding every effort towards reconciliation ineffec- 
tual, had now advanced within twelve coss of Hyderabad, but 
still anxious to avoid coming to extremities, employed his faithful 
Vizier Monauim Khan, by large bribes, and the assurance of the 
Emperor's forgiveness and favour, to detach from him the few 
chiefs who yet lingered in his train. His principal generals, 
Rustum Dill Khan, Syef Khan, and even his foster-brother, 
Meer Mulling, had resolved to come over, and embrace the 
protection thus offered ; but Kambuksh having gained intel- 
ligence of their intended flight, had them all seized and put to 
death on the same day and hour, and confiscated their effects. 
Scarcely ten thousand troops now remained with him, and those 
of the worst Deccan horse, mutinous for pay, and more zealous 
to plunder their master, than attack the enemy : at the head of 
this rabble he marched out of Hyderabad, and encamped on a 
plain three coss from it, in sight of the imperial army. 

With difficulty the amiable Emperor restrained his myriads 
from that assault which must in an instant have overwhelmed 
his unfortunate brother ; but Zoolfeccar, who had not been used 
to this kind of warfare, and who had long cherished an enmity 



1 



A. D. 1708.] C 507 3 

against the misguided prince, determined to put an end to it 
by surrounding and seizing him. With these intentions, but 
without imparting them to the Emperor, he asked and ob- 
tained permission to reconnoitre the enemy, and took care to 
have with him a detachment sufficiently strong to effect his 
purpose without the risque of a battle. Kambuksh, however, 
on the approach of this force, although treble the amount 
of that under his command, immediately prepared for action, 
but was almost instantly deserted by his cowardly bands, who 
took to flight in every direction. A few personal attendants 
alone remained with the infatuated prince, and from the centre 
of these, seated on his elephant, with his bow and arrows he 
dealt destruction on the surrounding foe. Irritated by his obsti- 
nate and frantic defence, the assailants discharged several arrows 
at him, till at length he sunk down on his seat through loss of 
blood, was taken prisoner, and carried to the imperial tents, 
where, pale and bleeding, he was placed on a bed adjoining the 
royal apartments. An affecting scene now took place. The 
Emperor with benignity and compassion in his looks, and at- 
tended by his sons, entered and endeavoured to soothe and 
console him by every expression of affectionate concern. He 
remained for a long time sullen, and silent ; and though the phy- 
sicians and surgeons of the household attended, he obstinately 
refused to have his wounds dressed, though earnestly solicited 
both by his majesty and his sons. They were mortal, however, 
and no aid could have availed him. To a variety of questions, 
put to him with much tender solicitude by his nephews, he re- 
turned answers neither kind, nor conciliating. He seemed to 
think their presence and their queries an intrusion on his dying 
moments. At length, turning to the Emperor, he said, " there 
are in a casket upon my elephant some valuable jewels of our 



I 



C 508 3 



[A. D. 1708. 



father and my own, of which I beg your majesty's acceptance." 
After this, he grew faint, and languished in silence till nine at 
night, when he expired without a groan. 

Thus perished the youngest and favourite son of Aurungzeb, 
the victim of that ambition, and probably also of that supersti- 
tion, which he inherited from his father. Aurungzeb in the letter 
to him before cited evidently alludes to his headstrong turbulent 
disposition, which he in vain endeavoured to restrain. In other 
respects he is said to have been a very accomplished prince. He 
had an excellent memory, was familiar with the authors, and 
elegantly wrote the dialects, of Asia. But his passions at times 
were so boisterous as to disorder his understanding, and he fell 
a victim to their ungovernable fury. 

Having thus successfully concluded the war with his brother, 
and having paid his devoirs at the tomb of Aurungzeb, at 
Hyderabad, Bahadur resolved to turn his arms against the 
Rajapouts, who from the long absence of the imperial troops 
were in a state bordering 011 rebellion. The two chiefs of that 
unconquerable nation had recently strengthened their alliance by 
an intermarriage ; the Rajah Jey Sing having espoused the 
daughter of Ajeet Sing ; and every circumstance seemed to fore- 
bode the renewal of those hostilities that devastated India in the 
reign of Aurungzeb. Just on the eve of this dreadful flame 
breaking out circumstances arose that imperiously demanded 
the Emperor's presence in a very distant quarter of the empire, 
and it became necessary to postpone for a time the vengeance 
about to be poured on the determined enemies of the house of 
Timur. Intelligence about this time arrived that the Seiks had 
risen in the north in great force, and were ravaging without con- 
troul the whole country from the Indus to the Jumna. Of this 
sect and nation, which about this period first began to be 

1 



A. D. 1708.] C 509 3 

formidable, the following summary account from an authentic 
source may be acceptable to the reader. 

The Seiks are a tribe of Hindoos, who profess to worship one 
Invisible Being, omnipotent, omnipresent, and whom they con- 
sider as degraded by any similitude or images. In truth, both in 
theory and practice, they are pure theists. They are descended 
from one Naneek of the Kattry or war-cast, who flourished in 
the province of Lahore towards the close of the 15th century, 
and who from his eminent piety, and superior talents, was reve- 
renced as a sort of prophet among them. Their Gooroos, or 
chiefs, of which they enumerate a long succession, seem also to 
have been invested with a character both sacred and military, 
as was anciently the case among many eastern people ; at once 
priests and soldiers. Like the present Hindoos, they are per- 
fectly tolerant in matters of faith ; though unlike them the Seiks 
admit of proselytes, which is doubtless one reason of their rapid 
increase as a people ; since proselytes arc made without any 
other ceremony than an oath, binding them to civil and religious 
obedience. They abhor, however, the multiplicity of idols dis- 
played in their temples, even though attempted to be apologized 
for under the mild denomination of the attributes of the deity per- 
sonified. The sacred volumes that contain their theological doc- 
trines are written partly in Sanscreet, and partly in a character 
invented by Naneek himself.* 

For a long period, equally inoffensive in their tenets and 
blameless in their manners, they remained undisturbed by the 
Mahommedan governors of Lahore and Multan, where they 
principally abounded ; but their numbers vastly increasing, espe- 
cially during the latter period of the reign of Aurungzeb, and 

• Sec Mr. Wilkins's account of the Seiks in Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. aSg. 
Calcutta edition. 



C 510 3 



[A. D. 1709. 



with their numbers their power, during the long absence in Deccan 
of the imperial army ; in short, a religious sect becoming gra- 
dually converted into a nation of warriors, hardy from their 
climate, mounted on fleet horses, and panting for independence, 
it was absolutely necessary to adopt the most instantaneous and 
vigorous measures for their reduction. Under their present 
Gooroo or chief, they had extended their ravages on both banks 
of the Jumna, and the inhabitants of Delhi itself were struck with 
consternation. Filled with implacable hatred against the Ma- 
hommedans, and with detestation of their religious principles, 
they every where insulted and plundered them ; levelling their 
mosques, and burning their palaces. The governor of Sirhind 
at the head of the provincial troops had marched against the 
marauders, but had been defeated and killed. Their wide de- 
vastations and cruel excesses, the result of both political and 
religious rancour, were only to be checked by the Emperor in 
person, and therefore, for the present, compromising matters in 
the best manner possible with the Rajapout chiefs, and having 
conferred on Zoolfeccar the vice-royalty of Deccan, who go- 
verned it by deputy, he hastened northward with all his forces. 
Passing by Agra and Delhi, without entering either of those 
capitals, he in a short time arrived at Sirhind, where the rebels 
were collected in great force. On the approach, however, of 
the imperial army they retired to Daber, the original residence 
of their chief, where they fortified themselves as strongly as 
possible. Daber is situated on the summit of a rocky mountain, 
and round it, at different heights, the greatest part of the rebel 
army had encamped, secure as they thought amidst its rugged 
precipices and frightful cavities that seemed to forbid the ap- 
proach of an enemy. The Emperor stationed his army around 
the foot of the mountain, and resolved to lie inactive for some 



A. D. 1709.] 



C 511 3 



time before the enemy, in the hope of rendering them confident, 
and tempting them to risque an engagement. The ardour of the 
Mogul troops frustrated his intention, for the Vizier having ob- 
tained permission with a considerable detachment to reconnoitre 
the enemy's position, although positively forbidden to make an 
assault, yet being extremely galled by the fire from the cannon 
of the fort, as well as by the discharge of rockets and musquetry, 
both general and soldiers became to the last degree irritated, 
rushed on impetuously to the attack, clambered up the most 
difficult heights, penetrated the deepest defiles, and drove the 
astonished enemy before them with the greatest rapidity under 
the very walls of the fort. Here, firmly concentrated, the rebel 
hands made a desperate resistance, and night coming on only 
suspended, but did not terminate, the contest. It was renewed 
with the earliest dawn ; and the remainder of the army having 
now, by exertions equally laborious, joined their valiant com- 
rades, a dreadful and general slaughter commenced, no mercy 
being shewn to wretches who had evinced none. They were 
cut off to a man. The fort was afterwards taken by storm, and 
all within it also put to death ; but the wily Gooroo, who knew 
the intricate windings of the hills among which Daber is situated, 
disguised like a Yogee, had made his escape in the night, and 
fled by a secret path to the snowy mountains. The Vizier who 
had vowed to bring him dead or alive, to the Emperor, as some 
atonement for his disobedience of orders, was so mortified by the 
disappointment as well as by the cold reception of his sovereign, 
after deeds of valour that deserved so warm an one, that he 
shortly after fell ill, and is supposed to have died of a broken 
heart.* 

The terrible example thus made of so large a portion of their 
• Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 64. 



[A. D. 1712, 



nation seems not to have had the effect of reducing the Seiks to 
entire obedience, since, though the resolution of Bahadar to ex- 
tirpate the Rajapouts remained still unshaken, and he had not 
yet visited either of his capitals Agra or Delhi, we find him re- 
siding at Lahore, most probably to overawe them, and settle the 
affairs of the northern provinces, in general, till the time of his 
death, which took place suddenly, and not without suspicion of 
poison, in 1712. From the vigour with which his reign com- 
menced, from his acknowledged abilities, and the general excel- 
lence of his character, if that reign had been prolonged, Bahadur 
would probably have fixed the empire upon a solid basis, and 
rendered its glory permanent ; but now a dreadful scene of de- 
struction is to take place, and royal blood to flow in still deeper 
currents. Imperial fratricide, blood-stained Fakeer ! look up 
from thy tomb of affected humility, and view the long train of 
disasters which thy crimes have entailed on thy miserable de- 
scendants ! 

Bahadur left four sons, fired with all the ambition of their 
family, to contest the vacant throne ; their names and characters 
are thus designated by their historian, Eradut Khan. Jehaundar 
Shah, the eldest, was a weak man, the votary of pleasure, who 
gave himself no concern about state affairs. Azem Ooshawn, the 
second son, was a statesman of winning manners, and of much 
experience. He had been a favourite of Aurungzeb, who in his 
deep political craft had opposed him to his father, Shah Aulum, 
and had given him the rich governments of Bengal, Bahar, and 
Orissa, where he had amassed immense wealth, and whence he 
had now arrived at the head of a formidable army to dispute the 
empire with his three brothers, leagued against him. Raffeih 
Ooshawn, the companion and favourite of his father, was a man 
of abilities, but greatly addicted to pleasure. He paid no attention 



A. D. 1712.] 



C 513 3 



to public affairs nor even to those of his own household. Jehaun 
Shah, the youngest, was a consummate statesman, on whom, 
both before and after his father's accession, a considerable share 
of the public business had devolved, and seemed most worthy to 
wield the imperial sceptre.* Such were the personages who 
were about to enter on the field of sanguinary warfare for the 
crown of Hindostan. The account of Eradut Khan, who was 
an eye-witness, is exceedingly curious ; according to him, the 
contest commenced in the following manner. 

While Bahadur lay expiring, the princes and ladies of the 
court made continual lamentations round his bed. It happened 
one day, that, as Jehaundar and Azem Ooshawn were sitting 
near it, the latter, perceiving under a corner of the pillow a 
dagger of very exquisite workmanship, took it up to admire 
the jewels with which it was adorned, and the water of the 
blade. Upon his drawing it from the scabbard, Jehaundar, jea- 
lous of his brother, was seized with a panic ; he started up, and 
retired with such precipitation, that he struck the turban from 
his head against the door of the tent, forgot his slippers at the 
entrance, and fell down over the ropes. Being assisted to rise 
and adjust his dress by his servants, who were astonished at his 
strange actions and appearance, he rode off to his tents with the 
utmost possible speed. His report of his intended assassination, 
though none was meant, by Azem, roused and united all his 
brothers in arms. They hastened to the field, determined to 
conquer, or perish. In fact, the riches and power of Azem 
Ooshawn had long raised against him the enmity and jealousy 
of his brethren, who had, for their general safety, formed a 
compact to support each other. The ameer al omra had for- 
merly been disgusted with some conduct of Azem Ooshawn, 

* Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 45. 
VOL. II. 3 U 



from which time he had courted alternately Raffeh and Jehaun 
Shah. On this occasion, he swore to assist the three brothers 
in effecting the destruction of Azem Ooshawn, and make 
an equal division of the empire and royal treasures among 
them.* 

This ameer al omrah was Zoolfecar Khan, whom we have 
seen fighting under the banners of his protector Aurungzeb, 
leading his armies to victory, and now his grand-children to 
slaughter in furious contest, which, instead of inflaming, he ought 
to have repressed; a contest in which three out of the four are 
doomed to perish. The particulars are given at length in Eradut 
Khan, but are too long to be detailed here : they are summarily 
as follows. Azem Ooshawn being in the possession of the im- 
perial treasures, as well as those which he had brought from 
Bengal, hoped to secure the throne by bribery. Instead, therefore, 
of coming to immediate action with his brothers, he intrenched 
himself in his camp, and suffered them at the outset by his inac- 
tion to gain very important advantages over him. He is at length 
compelled to engage them, is deserted by his troops, and sinks 
down covered with wounds, upon his elephant, in which situation 
the elephant, frantic from the anguish of its own wounds, hurries 
him off the field, and both are supposed to have perished in the 
rapid stream of the Rauvi, which washes Lahore. Jehaun Shah, 
by whose skill and bravery, principally, aided by Zoolfecar, the 
battle was gained, now calls upon Zoolfecar to perform his 
plighted promise of equitably dividing the empire and the trea- 
sures, declaring himself ready to submit to his decision. Faithless 
to that promise, Zoolfecar had privately resolved to seat Jehaundar 
on the throne without a rival, " as he was a weak prince, fond of 
his pleasures, averse from business, and consequently best suited 
* Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 64. 



A. D. 1712.] I 515 3 

to the purpose of a minister ambitious of uncontrolled power." 
With this view, he, on various pretences, delays making a divi- 
sion of the treasure, and at length openly avows his intentions 
in favour of Jehaundar. A second battle ensues, in which Jehaun 
Shah is killed by a musket shot while fighting against a host of 
foes headed by the traitor Zoolfecar. His son, a prince finely 
accomplished, who sat behind him on the same elephant, de- 
scended and fought with his scymeter, till he could stand no 
longer, and then sunk down, weltering in his blood ! 

There now remained no other rivals for the empire than 
Jehaundar, and Raffeh Ooshawn. As Zoolfecar, during the life 
of the late Emperor, had been under the greatest obligations to 
the latter, he made no doubt of himself being the decided object 
of his choice for the vacant throne. Zoolfecar, however, re- 
mained firm to the interest of Jehaundar ; a third battle was 
fought, in which Raffeh Ooshawn met in the field with the same 
shameful desertion and ingratitude, which had been fatal to his 
brothers, and he died with their lion-like courage. ** The un- 
happy prince," says our historian, '* surrounded by his enemies 
on all sides, regarding the honour and reputation of the family 
of Timur, notwithstanding his delicacy and seeming effeminate 
softness, threw himself from his elephant, and, drawing the 

SABRE OF GLORY FROM THE SCABBARD OF HONOUR, fought singly 

on foot against thousands of assailants. But what could he effect, 
fighting singly against so many? He was soon hewed down 
with repeated wounds, and resigned his breath to him who gave 
it. Jehaundar Shah now sounded the march of victory and un- 
rivalled empire. He permitted the mangled bodies of his mar- 
tyred and more worthy brothers to be kept three days on the 
field of battle, exposed to public view. They were afterwards 
conveyed to Delhi, and interred without ceremony or pomp, in 



[A. 171a* 



the mausoleum of the emperor Humaioon, the general receptacle 
of the murdered princes of the imperial family. The mausolea 
which they had erected for themselves, near the tombs of their 
favourite saints, of marble, jasper, and other rich stones, were 
bestowed on the minions of Lall Koor, a public dancer, and mis- 
tress to the weak Jehaundar Shah."* 

JEHAUNDAR SHAH. 

The perfidious Zoolfecar having now exalted his imperial 
puppet beyond the power of a rival, assumed the chief adminis- 
tration of affairs, and acted in the most cruel and tyrannical 
manner; degrading and putting to death the ancient nobility, 
and plundering the opulent without mercy. Nurtured in the 
school of war, accustomed to deeds of daring ferocity, when so 
long opposed to the Mahrattas in the mountains of Gaut, and 
the dauntless bands of Rajapouts, combating for life and religion 
in the deserts of Ajmere, he brought into the cabinet all the 
turbulent ambition of the soldier, and ruled only by the sword. 
His principal aim seemed to be to heap up immense masses of 
wealth, not to bestow in generous munificence on the friendless 
and destitute, but to glut the eye, and fill the grasp of insatiable 
avarice ; for even his sycophant dependents suffered the pressure 
of poverty, and though he conferred titles on many, he allowed 
jaghires to none. All orders and descriptions of men, the rich 
whom he had robbed, and the poor whom he had trampled, 
Hindoos and Mussulmans, alike sent up their prayers to heaven 
for the downfall of Zoolfecar. 

"With respect to Jehaundar himself, he was a disgrace to the 
name of monarch, and to the house of Timur. With intellects 
little superior to those of an ideot, indolent in his habits, and 
effeminate in his person; so that his treasury was kept full, 
* Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 79. 



A. D. 1713.] 



C 517 3 



which was artfully contrived by the extortions of Zoolfecar, and 
was one end of them ; so that his table was supplied with the 
choicest dainties, and his haram well stored with Circassian wo- 
men, he was indifferent to the concerns of government. " He 
made," as Eradut Khan indignantly exclaims, " the vast empire of 
Hindostan an offering to the foolish whims of a public courtezan. 
The relations, friends and minions of the mistress, usurped abso- 
lute authority in the state ; and high offices, great titles, and 
unreasonable grants from the imperial domains, were showered 
profusely on beggarly musicians. Two crores of rupees, that is, 
two millions sterling, annually, were settled for the household 
expences of the mistress only, exclusive of her clothes and jewels. 
The emperor frequently rode with her in a chariot through the 
markets, where they purchased, agreeably to caprice, sometimes 
jewels, gold, silks, and fine linen ; at others, greens, fruits, and 
the most trifling articles. A woman named Zohera, keeper of 
a green-stall, one of Lall Koor's particular friends, was promoted 
to a high rank, with a suitable jaghire, and her relations exalted 
to the emperor's favour, which they used to promote the interests 
of the courtiers, for large bribes : nor did the nobility decline 
their patronage, but forgetting their honour, and sacrificing de- 
cency to present advantage, eagerly flocked to pay adoration to 
the royal idols, whose gates were more crowded with equipages 
in general than those of the imperial palace. The ridiculous jaunts 
of the emperor and his mistress at last grew to such a height,, 
that on a certain night, after spending the day in debauchery, 
and visiting different gardens near the city, in company with 
Zohera the herb- woman, they retired to the house of one of her 
acquaintance who sold spirits, with which they all became intox- 
icated. After rewarding the woman with a large sum, and the 
grant of a village, they returned in a drunken plight to the palace, 



C 518 3 



[A. D. 1712* 



and all three fell asleep on the road. On their arrival, Lall Koor 
was taken out by her women ; but the emperor remained sleep- 
ing in the chariot, and the driver, who had shared in the jollity 
of his royal master, without examining the machine, carried it to 
the stables. The officers of the palace, after waiting till near 
morning for his arrival, on finding that the mistress had entered 
her apartments without the Emperor, were alarmed for his safety, 
and sent to her to enquire concerning his situation. She desired 
them immediately to examine the coach, where they found the 
wretched prince fast asleep in the arms of Zohera, at the distance 
of nearly two miles from the palace/'* 

Compared with the high and dignified deportment on the 
Mogul throne, of the more virtuous sovereigns of the race of 
Timur, how infinitely degrading was this conduct in one of that 
illustrious line ! There can scarcely exist a doubt but that Zool- 
fecar, who must have despised this silly pageant of his usurped 
authority, only suffered him to fill that throne until he could by 
heaping up sufficient wealth raise an army to secure it for himself. 
His own conduct, however, though in a different line, was equally 
disgusting, and a powerful party of discontented Omrahs were act- 
ing in secret to undermine both the silly monarch and his guilty 
minister. At the head of this party were two nobles, brothers, of 
uncommon wealth and influence, called Seyd Abdollah Khan, 
and Seyd Hossain Khan. They had both been firmly attached 
to, and had faithfully served, the late Emperor, whose son, Azem 
Ooshawn had rewarded them, the former with the government 
of Allahabad, and the latter with the province of Bahar. On his 
death and the consequent troubles they had both raised, with the 
imperial revenues, considerable bodies of troops, as well for their 
own safety as that of the countries they governed : at least, such 
* Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 82* 



A. D. 1712.] 



n 519 3 



was their pretence. Their known attachment, however, to Azem 
Ooshawn, and his father rendering their motives for arming 
suspected, Jehaundar Shah had appointed another governor to 
Allahabad, whom Abdollah had opposed, defeated, and driven 
back. One only son survived to Ooshawn, named Furrukseer, 
who resided in Bengal, and to him the eyes of the dissatisfied 
omrahs of Delhi were turned. The chiefs above-mentioned, 
whose resentment the court by subsequent favours had in vain 
endeavoured to appease, heartily joined in the projected revolu- 
tion, and united their forces to raise Furrukseer to that throne 
which his father had lost. The standard of rebellion being thus 
raised in Bengal, multitudes daily flocked to it, and the prince, 
accompanied by the Seyds, moved towards Agra amidst the 
acclamations of an indignant people, who were filled with equal 
detestation at an ideot king, and a sanguinary minister. 

At the height of his abused authority, and in the midst of his 
debaucheries, a report being suddenly propagated at Delhi that 
Furrukseer was in full march for the capital, with intent to revenge 
his father's death, and seize the throne, the whole court was 
struck with consternation. The great power and wealth of the 
Seyds too were well known, and firmauns containing additional 
grants and mighty promises were dispatched without delay, to 
secure their loyalty, or if engaged in the rebel cause, to detach 
them from it. Their choice, however, was irrevocably fixed. A 
body of the imperial troops being put in motion, the ameer al 
omrah fearing to leave the whole power in the hands of his 
enemies, refused to take the command of them ; and at length, 
in the distracted councils of the moment, it was resolved to place 
at the head of them, Aiz ad Dien, eldest son of Jehaundar 
Shah, quite a youth, under the tutelage of Dowran Khan, and 
other officers, not much more experienced than himself. On the 



[ 520 ] 



[A. D. 1713. 



army's arrival at Agra it received considerable reinforcements, 
but not of the most formidable description of soldiers ; and the 
march was continued to Kidgwa, where the great battle before 
described between Aurungzeb and Sultan Sujah was fought. At 
this spot Furrukseer and the two Seyds had previously arrived 
with an army consisting of about 70,000 horse and foot, mostly 
adventurers, and hoping to benefit themselves by a revolution. 

Abdollah Khan, accompanied by some other officers, going out 
early the next morning to reconnoitre the enemy's position, was 
attacked by a party of royalists, which brought on a partial action, 
and afterwards a cannonade on both sides, which lasted till even- 
ing; and at midnight the young prince and his general, Dowran* 
magnanimously fled in a woman's covered pallankin, nor stopped 
till they arrived at Agra. In the morning, when the army found 
themselves deserted by their chief, the greater part enlisted under 
the banners of furrukseer ; and the rest disbanded. On receiv- 
ing intelligence of this disaster, Jehaundar took the field in person, 
and moved towards Agra, where a large army was soon collected 
by a lavish expenditure of the royal treasures that had been ac- 
cumulating there from the time of Shah Jehan. Formidable by 
their numbers, and not deficient in valour and discipline, for many 
of them were veteran soldiers, and had fought under Aurungzeb, 
if attachment to the royal cause had not been wanting, they pro- 
bably would have triumphed over the insurgents : but the great 
Omrahs had for the most part been disgusted by the absurd and 
tyrannical conduct of the court, and, when the two armies at 
length met on the banks of the Jumna, the contest was neither 
long nor arduous. Zoolfecar, indeed, at the head of a few de- 
termined battalions, displayed his usual courage as a man, and 
his abilities as a commander ; but the great body of the army was 
soon broken by the resolute and repeated charges of the Seyds, 



f 



A.D. 1713O t>t 3 

and Furrukseer in person, who pierced through to their artil- 
lery, near which Jehaundar had taken his station, but which was 
deserted as they approached. The terrified Emperor imme- 
diately sought safety in flight, and disappearing from his elephant, 
the route became general and complete. Amidst this scene of 
dismay and confusion, the ameer-al-omrah bravely stood his 
ground till darkness covered the field ; he then slowly retired to 
Shaw Gunge, near the city, where he remained till midnight, 
dispatching messengers on all sides in search of the Emperor, in 
the hope, if he could be found, of rallying the troops, and renew- 
ing the attack the next morning. Jehaundar however was not 
to be found, and Zoolfecar, with the remainder of the army, 
marched towards Delhi. Thither, also, Furrukseer with his vic- 
torious army, immediately directed his progress, and was, by his 
two protectors, elevated to the throne of Timur. The wretched 
Jehaundar was afterwards taken, having in vain disguised him- 
self by shaving off his beard and whiskers, and was strangled in 
prison. Thus every one of the four brothers, who had con- 
tended for the empire, fell in his turn the victim of that insatiable 
ambition which had been the occasion of so profusely shedding 
the blood of the race of Timur; and, in the end, Zoolfecar 
himself, the fomenter of their disputes, miserably perished by 
the same fatal bow-string. As a public example, at once, of 
imperial imbecility, and of great abilities prostituted to the basest 
purposes, their bodies were afterwards tied together, and with 
their heads downwards, slung across an elephant, in which con- 
dition they were exposed to public view, when the new Emperor 
made his triumphal entry into Delhi.* 

* Memoirs of Eradut Khan, page final. 



VOL. II. 



[A. D. 1714. 



FURRUKSEER. 

Furrukseer, often written Feroksere, grandson of Bahadur, 
and great grandson of Aurungzeb, being firmly seated on the 
throne, appointed Abdollah Seyd his Vizier, and raised his brother 
Hossain to the rank of Ameer al Omrah. For a long time these 
powerful nobles, as well on account of their distinguished 
stations in the realm, as of the weight of obligation by which 
Furrukseer was bound to them, were suffered to have the sole 
administration of public affairs. Like their predecessors however 
in power, in every age and country, they grossly abused this 
delegated authority, and Furrukseer too soon found himself 
fettered by even more oppressive bonds than Jehaundar himself. 
Although not of brilliant abilities, he possessed a mind far more 
vigorous than the dethroned monarch, and by separating the 
brothers, he hoped to weaken their power and influence in the 
state. As, therefore, during the desolating wars that had re- 
cently taken place between the sons and the grandsons of 
Aurungzeb, the Rajapouts, and in particular, the Maharajah him- 
self, Ajeet Sing, sovereign of Marwar, had been guilty of the 
most daring acts of rebellion, levelling the mosques, and re- 
erecting the temples of the Hindoo deities, destroyed by Au- 
rungzeb, it was proposed that Seyd Hossain, the brother most 
experienced in arms, should march against the insurgents at the 
head of the imperial troops. The project was seen through by 
the sagacious Seyds, for they well knew that a secret combination 
of courtiers, headed by one Meer Jumla, a worthless minion, in 
high favour with the Emperor, was formed against them ; but a 
full confidence in the strength of their own party, added to the 
pressing necessity which existed, that some exertion should be 
made to crush the Rajapout rebellion, induced Hossain to consent 



A. D. 1714.] 



C 523 3 



to the acceptance of the command. By a policy equally despi- 
cable and ruinous, encouragement was secretly given, from court 
to Ajeetto persevere in his resistance to the imperial army, sent 
to subdue him, in order that Hossain might be detained as long 
as possible in that region; but Hossain, who received frequent 
letters from his brother, with intelligence of the proceedings of 
the opposite faction at Delhi, informing him that they were about 
to imprison them, and intreating his speedy return, carried on the 
war with such decisive spirit and vigour against the enemy, as 
quickly compelled them to sue for quarter. The terms of peace 
were the immediate payment of a large peshcush, the daughter 
of Ajeet, to be given in marriage to the Emperor, and his son to 
be sent to court as an hostage for his future good behaviour. 
After concluding this treaty, he returned with the utmost expe- 
dition to Delhi, 

On his arrival at court, the ameer al omrah found every thing 
in confusion ; the Emperor's confidential minister, Meer Jumla, 
disposing at his pleasure of all places and emoluments, and Ab- 
dollah Seyd, vizier only in name. Accused to their sovereign of 
direct disloyalty, lie had resolved to seize on both their persons ; 
but the knowledge of the intended arrest coming to their ears, 
they found means to render unavailing the plots laid to ensnare 
them, and now determined to act a more decisive part. They 
declined all attendance at court, on the plea that their lives were 
in danger from the intrigues of the favourite; they even levied 
troops and fortified themselves in their palaces, while Furrukseer 
and the courtly cabal held daily councils what were the best 
measures to be taken, pacific or hostile, with men of such vast 
resources, extensive connections, and daring ambition. It was 
found impossible for Meer Jumla and themselves to hold exalted 
stations under the same imperial roof, as great public measures 



C 5H 3 [A. D. 1715. 

could not be for ever subject to the. caprice of an individual. In 
this dreadful situation all public business was suspended ; every 
body saw that a great storm was ready to burst ; but nobody 
could resolve who were to be the victims. At length the court 
faction deemed it expedient to give way ; the mother of the Em- 
peror, who had guaranteed the treaty between her sons and 
the Seyds, when they first took up arms in his favour, interfered 
to prevent a rupture that must again convulse the empire, and it 
was finally agreed that Meer Jumla should be promoted to the 
government of Bahar, to which he should immediately retire, 
while Hossain was promoted to the richer soubahdary of Deccan, 
which he obtained permission for the present to govern by deputy. 

Harmony being thus restored at court, by the removal of the 
obnoxious favourite, the most splendid preparations commenced 
for celebrating the nuptials of Furrukseer, with the daughter of 
the Maharajah, an union which it was hoped would prove a pub- 
lic benefit, by blending in one, the interests of the two great 
contending powers, whose sanguinary conflicts, for four centu- 
ries, had entailed so many disasters on India. Nothing, even in 
the days of the magnificent Shah Jehan, ever exceeded the pomp 
of those nuptials, for a love of splendour and ostentation was the 
characteristic of that vain prince, who was not stained with any 
deep crimes, but wanted fortitude and judgment. He was only 
unfortunate in having his hands fettered by those who placed 
him on the throne ; and from whose tyrannical usurped power, 
he was for ever, but in vain, struggling to get released. Some- 
what previously to this period, (A. D. 1715), arrived at Delhi, 
the ambassadors sent from Calcutta by our East India Company, 
as mentioned in a former page, and they are said to have been 
materially indebted for their success to the medical abilities of 
Mr. Hamilton, surgeon to the embassy, who by an operation, 



A. D. 1715 3 C 525 ] 

skilfully performed, restored the Emperor to health, when given 
over by his own physicians, for which, among other rewards, 
(and much greater were intended) he was presented with models 
of all his surgical instruments in pure gold.* 

Hossain at length commenced his journey for the Deccan ; 
but when he had his final audience, he resolutely told the Em- 
peror, that if any sinister designs were put in practice against his 
brother, the Vizier, he would in twenty days be with his army 
at the gates of Delhi. To make way for him, that old and 
favourite general of Aurungzeb, the Nizam, had been removed, 
and for the temporary loss of his government, he meditated 
against the Seyds a deep, though concealed revenge. When 
arrived at Brampore, on the frontiers of that soubah, his autho- 
rity was resisted by Daood Khan, an Afghan, the deputy ap- 
pointed to govern during his absence, and secretly instigated, it 
was thought, by the Emperor, to oppose and cut him off. For 
this purpose he had received into his pay a body of Mahrattas, 
commanded by one of the principal chiefs of that nation, and en- 
camping under the walls of Brampore, with confidence awaited 
the attack of the royalists. The engagement was obstinate and 
bloody ; and at one time, even doubtful on the side of Hossain ; but 
as the Afghan chief rushed forward with his elephant, to end the 
conflict by a personal combat with his antagonist, at that instant 
a matchlock ball entered his breast, and he fell dead upon his 
elephant. The Mahrattas, who, with their usual perfidy, had stood 
neuter at some distance, till it could be perceived which army 
was likely to prove triumphant, now pressed forward to join the 
victor, and share the plunder, which was very considerable. A 
part of it, with the intelligence of Daood's defeat, was transmitted 
to the Emperor, who received it in a manner that decisively 

* Scott's Deccan, vol. ii. p. 139, ubi supra. 



C 5^6 3 



[A. D. 1715. 



proved to the Vizier his deep regret that, instead of the Afghan, 
the imperial general had not perished. 

Towards the close of this year, the Seiks, who during the late 
public disturbances, had multiplied considerably, and become very 
formidable, again appeared in arms. The governors of Lahore 
and Sirhind * were successively sent against them, but the former 
was defeated with great slaughter, and the latter basely assassi- 
nated in his tent by a Seik, sent for the purpose by Bunda, their 
chief, the same who had escaped by night when the fortress 
of Daber was invested by Bahadur. The governor of Cash- 
mere now took the field, at the head of an army quadrupled 
in number, and was successfull. They were exterminated with- 
out mercy, and Bunda himself being taken, and refusing to turn 
Mahommedan, first had his infant child butchered before his face, 
and its palpitating heart forced (horrible atrocity!) into the 
wretched father's mouth ; and was himself afterwards put to 
death, by having his flesh torn from his bones with red hot pin- 
cers, and other exquisite tortures; all which he bore with un- 
daunted firmness. It may here be remarked, that from the 
rooted hatred borne by this sect towards the Mahommedans, 
their stern oppressors, the wars between them have ever been 
carried on with the most unrelenting barbarity. 

About this time, the banished favourite, Meer Jumla, arrived 
at Delhi, from his exile in Bahar, not, it was thought, without a 
secret invitation from the Emperor. His imprudent conduct had 
greatly embarrassed the affairs of that province, and the outrages 
committed by his officers on the inhabitants, had nearly occa- 

* " The Seiks now possess the provinces of Lahore, Panjab, and Multan, with 
great part of Delhi, and bands of them have more than once made inroads into the 
Nabob Vizier's dominions, but have been as often easily repelled by the approach 
of a British army." Note by Captain Scott, 1794. 



A. D. 1716.] C 527 3 

sioned a general insurrection. This event seemed to forbode the 
immediate downfall of the Vizier, who, filled with just apprehen- 
sion, summoned and armed his dependents in all the neighbour- 
ing districts. 

The Emperor, also having neglected to discharge the arrears 
due to a body of twenty thousand cavalry, which he had ordered 
to be raised in a crisis of difficulty, that body, on being dismissed, 
mutinied, and between them and the Vizier's armed followers, 
the agitated city was thrown into the utmost confusion. When 
the ferment was at its highest, Furrukseer, ever precipitate, and 
equally irresolute in his plans, prudently gave way ; he consented 
to satisfy the disbanded troops, and allayed the suspicions of the 
Vizier, by sending the favourite once more into banishment at 
Lahore. 

Thus did every exertion of the unfortunate Emperor, ulti- 
mately, only tend to bind him faster in those chains, with which 
the Seyds had manacled their devoted victim. Numerous were 
the other projects, to which he resorted to emancipate himself, 
but they are unworthy to be recorded in the dignified page of 
serious history, which seizes only on the great features and strik- 
ing characters of each reign, and leaves minor characters and 
incidents to perish in deserved oblivion. The Mahrattas, now 
rising into great power and consequence, are eminently entitled 
to that distinguished notice, and to them and the affairs of Deccan 
we return. 

The reader has already seen Aurungzeb engaged in active 
hostility against them during all the latter period of his life. 
Sahojee, or, as he is sometimes denominated, the Sou-rajah, the 
reigning sovereign, continuing to act with the same vigour and 
caution as his ancestors, had, during the dissensions that raged 
between the sons and grandsons of Aurungzeb, widely extended 



[A. D. 1716. 



his power, and added vastly to his domains in Viziapore, and the 
neighbouring Soubahs ; harassing, as usual, on their march, the 
armies of the Mogul governors, and every where, on the old 
pretence of being lords of the soil, rigidly exacting the chout, or 
fourth part of the revenues. The Ameer al Omrah, filled with 
indignation at their continual depredations on the imperial do- 
mains, determined to curb the insolence of that people. Being 
informed that they had erected a chain of forts on the high road 
between Surat and Brampore, from which they issued in large 
bodies, and compelled merchants and travellers to pay a fourth 
part of their property, or, in case of resistance, plundered them 
of the whole ; he dispatched an army of four thousand horse, and 
as many foot, to expel the robbers, and raze the forts. The 
force thus detached was utterly inadequate to the undertaking ; 
and the commander being outgeneraled, and drawn into am- 
bush, they were defeated, and the whole detachment either 
killed, or taken prisoners. An army, far more powerful, under 
approved commanders, was afterwards sent against them ; but 
with these troops the wary Mahratta chief was reluctant to con- 
tend in the open field, and retreated to Sattarah ; at that time the 
capital of the Mahratta state, in the strong fortress of which Sahojee 
himself resided. Still, however, his predatory bands continued 
their depredations ; on their fleet horses, scouring uncontrolled 
the open country, and plundering and burning wherever they 
came, but ever cautiously avoiding a general engagement. 

It was now resolved to lay siege in form to Sattarah, and crush 
the evil at its source ; but, at this instantpletters were received at 
Aurungabad, informing Hossain of the dissentions raging at 
Delhi, and moreover, that the Emperor had sent private orders 
to Sahojee, and all the persons of authority in Deccan, to op- 
pose and distress his own governor there. Enraged to the last 



A.D. 1717.] C 529 3 

degree at this intelligence, he immediately recalled the troops 
marching to invest Sattarah, and instead of farther irritating the 
Mahrattas, he resolved to make friends of that powerful confe- 
racy, and bind them to his own interest, and that of his brother. 
He offered them terms degrading to the imperial dignity, and 
suffered them to have a resident at Aurungabad, to receive the 
choute, with the addition of what is called deesmukkee, or ten ru- 
pees in each hundred collected ; a right not satisfactorily ex- 
plained. The emperor, whose perfidy was thus retorted upon 
his own head, dared not refuse to ratify the treaty ; but with 
increased assiduity laboured to undermine that power which he 
could not openly control. This admission of the exorbitant 
claims of the Mahrattas, in the governor of Deccan, was to the 
last degree impolitic, and laid the imperial crown of Timur at 
their feet. After this period, how rapidly their power and con- 
sequence increased in India, how bold their aggressions, and how 
shameless their extortions, the future pages of this history will 
too frequently demonstrate. 

Before we come to the close of this reign of disaster and im- 
becility, another description of people must also be noticed, who 
were now becoming formidable by their numbers, and their out- 
rages, I mean the Jats, or Jauts, who made their first appearance 
during Aurungzeb's prolonged wars in the south, as an intrepid 
band of robbers, and as such, received chastisement from that 
prince, who, on being informed of their depredations, sent from 
Deccan a strong detachment to reduce them. They are said 
to be descended from the ancient tribe of the Jits, who pos- 
sessed the banks of the Indus, as far back as the reign of 
Malimud of Gazna. They seem to have been the Getes, upon 
whom Timur, in his invasion of India made war, and were pro- 
bably not unconnected with the Getae of classical historians. 

3 Y 



[ 53° ] 



[A. D. 1718. 



Their ferocious, predatory habits, seem to justify their presumed 
descent from those barbarians. It should not be omitted, how- 
ever, that the word Jate, in Hindoo, signifies a husbandman, from 
which some have derived their name, however different their prac- 
tice. Under a succession of daring chiefs, they gradually extended 
themselves along the banks of the Jumna river, and in the vicinity 
of Agra, and about this time broke into open rebellion. Rajah 
Jey Sing was sent by Furrukseer at the head of a considerable 
force to bring them to obedience ; but taking refuge among their 
strong fortresses, they resisted all his efforts to subdue them 
for nearly a year, when, by bribes sent to the Vizier, who 
wished to secure their assistance, in any crisis of difficulty, 
together with a large pescush paid into the royal treasury, they 
obtained the recall of the troops under Jey Sing, who was greatly 
disgusted at having victory thus ravished from his grasp. 

That crisis was rapidly approaching ; the deposition of the 
Emperor was determined upon by the enraged brothers. In vain 
had Furrukseer summoned around him, from various and distant 
quarters, all the great vassals of the empire, in full confidence 
that they would support him against their usurpation. The artful 
• Vizier held out alluring bribes to their ambition ; and his brother 

was in full march from Deccan, with an army devoted to his in- 
terests, and ready, by one decisive blow, to crush every opponent. 
That army consisted of thirty thousand horse, ten thousand of 
which were Mahrattas. They poured, in a resistless torrent, 
into the capital, occupied the great squares, and filled all the 
avenues of the palace. Furrukseer, in a paroxysm of terror, 
fled into his haram, the doors of which, with barbarous violence 
were burst open, and the pusillanimous monarch was dragged 
from the midst of the shrieking females, who composed his 
family, not indeed to immediate death, but to confinement in a 



A.D. 1719.] [ 531 3 

dark chamber, over one of the gates of the palace, where he was 
blinded with a hot iron. Attempting, however, soon after, to 
make his escape from his gloomy prison, he was assassinated, 
according to Fraser, on the 16th of February, 1719, after an in- 
glorious, distracted reign of about seven years.* 

The triumphant brothers now reigned without control, divid- 
ing among themselves and their adherents, the imperial treasures, 
jewels, elephants and horses ; and Abdollah Seyd, who, to un- 
bounded ambition, added unbridled lust, seized for his own use 
several ladies of the royal haram. Their principal agent in these 
and other atrocious transactions, was a venal and unprincipled 
wretch, named Ruttun Chund, their Dewan, or steward, who 
had long exercised a supreme control over the revenues of the 
empire, which he had farmed out to wretches, venal and extor- 
tionate as himself. Under him every thing had its allotted price; 
in that empire honours and titles were brought to a public mart, 
and all distinction between virtue and vice seemed to be annihi- 
lated. Although they may be truly said to have reigned, yet a 
nominal sovereign of the blood of Timur, an imperial pageant, 
was deemed necessary to their security, and therefore proceed- 
ing to the castle of Selimgur, in which the royal princes were 
confined, they took out of its solitary chambers, 

RAFFEH AL DIRJAT, 

the son of RafFeh Ooshawn above mentioned, and placed him on 
the vacant throne. He was quite a youth, and had neither voice 
nor will of his own, while all the great offices of state, and the 
most lucrative governments were filled with the friends, and 
dependants of the Seyds. The Vizier took possession of the 
palace, whence the eunuchs and other domestics, grown old in 

* Fraiera Nadir Shah, p. 45. 



L 53* 2 



[A. D. 1719. 



the service of the royal family, were ejected, to make room for 
the creatures of the new dynasty. They were cautious, how- 
ever, of offending the more powerful among the old nobility. 
Sirbullind Khan, an omrah of great weight and influence, and at 
that time on his way to Cabul, at the head of a considerable army, 
was confirmed in his recent appointment to the government of that 
province, and adorned with new honours. To conciliate Nizam al 
Muluck, formidable both for his great military and political know- 
ledge, the soubahdary of Malva was conferred upon him, whence 
he soon appointed himself to his former government of the 
Deccan, for we find him established there in great power, and 
the object of dread to the tottering brothers, in the first year of 
the reign of Mahommed Shah. He will soon become an impor- 
tant actor in the scenes, the eventful and sanguinary scenes, 
without parallel in the history of nations, about to pass in rapid 
succession, before the view of the reader. 

The aim of the Seyds, in exalting to the throne so juve- 
nile a prince, was, doubtless, that they might enjoy uncontrolled, 
during a long minority, the imperial power. But in this expec- 
tation they were grievously disappointed, for, after a nominal 
reign of about four months, the young emperor died of a con- 
sumption. Fraser says he was murdered by them; but as there 
appears no adequate cause to have excited them to such wanton 
barbarity, they may reasonably be presumed guiltless of that 
crime. They now raised to the same painful pre-eminence his 
younger brother, 

RAFFEH AL DOWLAT ; 

But his reign was still shorter, for in less than three months he 
also died, it is said, a natural death, though there are writers of re- 
spectability, who, arguing possibly from the atrocious character, 



A. D. 1719.] C 533 3 

and the wavering politics of the Seyds, assert that both of 
these unfortunate princes perished by the hand of assassination. 
A son of that Jehaun Shah noticed before as so distinguished by 
valour and abilities, a youth of about seventeen, yet remained in 
the prison-palace of Selimgur, and India saw a ray of transient 
glory illumine her horizon, when Sultan Rooshun Akber, under 
the assumed title of 

MAHOMMED SHAH, 

assumed that throne for which his father died contending. When 
the last pageant emperor died, the brothers were with the army at 
Agra, the governor of which city had rebelled, but being vigorously 
pressed, and despairing of pardon from his pursuers he put himself 
to death, and immediately the citadel surrendered at discretion. 
The mother of Mahommed, a woman of deep policy and sound 
judgment, attended her son to Agra, and devoted her attention 
to acquire confidence of the brothers, while the emperor himself 
was in all things scrupulously subservient to their will. This 
subserviency, however, in both mother and son was the result of 
the deepest hypocrisy, and they privately meditated plans for the 
overthrow of the haughty disposers of the throne, and destroyers 
of the race of Timur. 

Shortly after the governor of Allahabad, who had been insulted 
by the brothers, raised the standard of independence, and the 
royal army began its march towards that quarter. A negotiation, 
however, commenced ; the Seyds thought it prudent to relax a 
little from the stern severity of their despotism, and matters were 
amicably adjusted. The army now prepared to march against a 
more formidable rebel to their authority, the Nizam, who bade 
them defiance, and had collected a considerable army of mus- 
sulman and Mahratta troops to support his opposition. The 



C 534 1 



[A. D. 1720, 



Emperor is said secretly to have encouraged his rebellion, and to 
have sent him a firmaun constituting him Soubah of Deccan in 
the place of Hossain. He was likewise encouraged to persevere 
by many of the discontented nobles at court who were grown 
weary of the insolence and tyranny of the usurpers, whom they 
hoped to crush, if they could be separated. The iniquitous Dewan 
saw into the projected scheme to ruin his protectors, and strongly 
advised the ameer al omrah not to proceed with the army to 
Deccan, but to make peace with the Nizam by a voluntary resig- 
nation to him of the government of that province. At this latter 
idea the pride of Hossain revolted, though he was easily per- 
suaded to send an army commanded by another general against 
his antagonist. That general, however, and a second who fol- 
lowed him at the head of a still larger army, were successively 
and totally defeated by the experienced veteran who had so often 
led to victory the armies of Aurungzeb, and, at length, after 
great debate and irresolution between the brothers, in which their 
dread of the result was evident to the young sovereign and the 
whole court, it was determined that Abdollah, the Visier, should 
return to Delhi, and Hossain with the emperor march with the 
army to Deccan. 

This plan of operations exactly coinciding with the wishes of 
those who had combined for their destruction, no time was lost in 
preparing for the expedition. In October 1720, according to 
Fraser, the imperial army left Agra, and having marched nine 
measured coss the first day, the emperor called a divan that night, 
and, after a short stay, withdrew. The conspirators, Mahommed 
Ameen Khan, an omrah high in favour with the emperor, Hyder 
Kuli Khan, the general of the artillery, and Dowran Khan, with 
several others, had fixed on that very evening for the assassina- 
tion of the ameer al omrah, and as he was returning from the 



A. D. 1720J 



C 535 3 



audience in his pallankin, one of them on whom it had fallen 
(for it was decided by casting lots) to strike the fatal blow, ap- 
proached it with a petition, at the same time crying aloud for 
vengeance on Mahommed Ameen Khan. At these words, which 
conveyed no unwelcome sounds to the ears of his bitterest enemy, 
he ordered the guards to stop, and while he was perusing the 
petition, the noble assassin struck his dagger into his breast, and 
immediately fell beneath a thousand swords plunged into his 
own. His followers, who were numerous, immediately flew to 
arms to revenge his death, but proper arrangements having been 
previously made, and the artillery being commanded by Hyder 
Kuli, the contest was soon decided; and the emancipated emperor, 
having publicly appointed the Nizam to the soubahdary of all 
Deccan, exultingly returned to Agra. Mahommed Ameen was 
appointed Visier, Dowran ameer al omrah, and on all who had 
assisted in the overthrow of the fallen Hossain were bestowed 
the most distinguished honours and rewards.* 

When the fatal intelligence of a brother slain, and what might 
be truly called an empire lost, arrived at Delhi, it excited in Ab- 
dollah the mingled sensations of exquisite grief and high resent- 
ment. Resentment, however, prevailing, he immediately burst 
open the royal treasury, and robbed the peacock throne of its 
finest jewels/f- in order to purchase the assistance of all who could 
bring a horse or arms, and by this means was enabled in a short 
time to raise a promiscuous army of 80,000 men ; of whom not 
a few, after receiving their pay, deserted his standard. Many 

* Fraser's Nadir Shah, p. 55. Scott's Deccan, vol. ii. p. 177. 

+ Frascr says, «• he broke to pieces the famous peacock throne, which cost Shall 
Jchan nine croics," or as many millions sterling; but that imperial pageant wc 
know afterwards became the plunder of Nadir Shah. I have, therefore, mitigated 
the outrage to a partial depredation of its jewels. 



C 52$ 3 C A - D - ^so- 

great omrahs, however, who owed their honours and fortunes to 
the Seyds, with their followers remained faithful to his cause, 
and to give it still more weight and consequence, he took out 
of his imprisonment Sultan Ibrahim, the infant son of Raffeh 
Ooshawn, caused him publickly to be proclaimed emperor, and 
placing him at the head of the forces, marched out of Delhi to 
meet and combat the imperial army. That army was already 
rapidly advancing towards the capital ; and both received in their 
progress great multitudes of auxiliary troops, Afghans, Jauts, 
and other adventurers, ever ready, in hopes of plunder, to join 
in the contests of the princes of India. Not to enter into mili- 
tary details disgusting by their uniformity, the important battle 
that was to fix the crown on the head of Mahommed Shah, 
or rend the sceptre for ever from his grasp, took place, according 
to Fraser, on the 2d of November, 1 720, at Sirkad, twelve coss 
from Muttra. It was long, obstinate, and bloody, but in the end 
Abdollah's forces were defeated, and himself desperately wounded, 
and taken prisoner. The victorious Emperor on this occasion ex- 
erted a benignity that did honour to his heart. Abdollah being 
brought before him, after being severely reproved, was dismissed 
with no other punishment than that confinement which the mo- 
narch's security rendered necessary, had the palace of Asaph al 
Dowlat assigned him for his residence, and a princely establish- 
ment settled upon hi n, which, however, he did not long enjoy, 
as he died a few months afterwards of his wounds. The same 
clemency was also shown to the young Sultan, who was only 
remanded to his former apartments in the castle of Selimgur. 
In short, no sovereign ever enjoyed victory with more modera- 
tion, nor re-ascended a contested throne under more happy 
auspices than Mahommed Shah. The vigour and decision with 
which he had acted awed to obedience the refractory governors 



A. D. 1721.] 



C 537 3 



/ 



in the distant provinces ; tranquillity was again restored to 
the distracted empire ; and the most confident hopes were 
entertained that his reign would be not less glorious than 
those of the most distinguished sovereigns of the house of 
Timur. 



3Z 



[ 53§ ] 



[A. D. 1721. 



CHAPTER V. 

Great Change in the Conduct of Mahommed, who becomes indolent, 
and enervated. — The Nizam invited to Delhi, and made Vizier, 
but soon retires in disgust to Deccan, and there meditates Inde- 
pendence. — He incites the Mahrattas to invade Agra and Delhi. — 
They are defeated, but renezv their Irruptions in greater Numbers. 
— The Emperor at length purchases their Retreat by submitting to 
pay the Choute for those Provinces, from which Period the Fall 
of the Mogul Monarchy may be dated. — Distractions at Court. — 
Character of Sadit Khan. — He conspires with the Nizam, and 
they invite Nadir Shah to invade India. — That Invasion described. 
— Consequent Ruin of the Empire. — Death of the Nizam. — Death 
of Mahommed. 

The Oriental historian describes the triumphal entry of Ma- 
hommed into his capital, after the destruction of the Seyds, to 
have been one of the most splendid and magnificent pomps ever 
seen. He himself was mounted on an elephant of uncommon 
magnitude and beauty, most sumptuously adorned with housings 
of gold brocade, and sparkling with precious stones. This was pre- 
ceded and attended with several other led elephants and horses 
adorned with equal magnificence ; while the travelling thrones 
and other carriages of the Emperor, glittering with gold and 
enamel, dazzled the eyes of the beholders. The troops of the 
household and the nobility were all newly clothed for the occa- 
sion, and the great omrahs vied with each other in the magnifi- 
cence of their appearance. Gold and silver coins were scattered 
in profusion among the populace, whose acclamations of joy at 



A. D. 1721] 



C 539 1 



the restoration of the imperial authority rent the heavens. On 
his entering the palace he was met by his mother and the prin- 
cesses bearing golden basons, rilled with jewels, which they 
waved in triumph around his head ; and the principal nobility 
presented jiuzzurs (gifts) of the most costly kind. Of a reign 
thus happily and splendidly begun, it is painful to the historian to 
relate the unfortunate incidents that marked its progress, and its 
calamitous termination. 

Those powerful enemies, those creators and destroyers of 
sovereigns, being crushed, and no public foe remaining to be 
subdued, Mahommed soon relaxed from the vigour that distin- 
guished his early councils, and resigned himself to those seducing 
pleasures that had proved so fatal to many of his predecessors. 
He was in the prime of youth with every incentive of pleasure 
around him, and all the means of gratifying the passions predo- 
minant at that season were within his reach. His favourite 
minister Dovvran Khan, the prince of the omrahs, though not 
without abilities and great military talents, was, also, not less 
devoted to dissipation than his master ; and the new Visier, Kam- 
mer o'deen Khan, all young like the monarch, was of the same 
dissolute description- The sword was returned to the scabbard, 
as if danger had ceased to exist ; days, months, and even years 
rolled on in circles of ever-varying delight ; virtue was without 
honour, and valour without its reward. 

In the mean time, those ancient enemies of the empire, the 
Rajapouts, took advantage of the supine indolence in which the 
court was plunged, and spread desolation through Ajmere, and 
the central provinces ; while the Mahrattas, defeating and ex- 
pelling the Mogul governors, without control extended their 
growing empire over Guzzurat, and the whole western coast. 
The Nizam, having collected a powerful army in Deccan, pre- 



[A. D. 1722. 



served that region and the peninsula from their ravages, but it 
was not for the Emperor that he preserved it. He had long 
aspired at independence, and was now taking the most effectual 
means of securing that extensive portion of the empire for him- 
self and his posterity. A sensible writer* has well observed, 
that it would have been a fortunate circumstance for the Mogul 
emperors had they never attempted to make conquests in Deccan, 
as its great distance from the capital, as well as its innumerable 
local advantages, held out a perpetual temptation to the viceroy to 
make himself independent ; and that probably, if the Deccan had 
been originally left to itself, the posterity of Timur might have 
still swayed the sceptre of Hindostan. The vast armies necessary 
for its subjugation in the first instance, and the reduction of its 
rebellious governors in the second, were an eternal drain upon 
the capital, and left the northern provinces of Lahore and Cabul 
without an adequate army for the defence of those frontier pro- 
vinces through which Mahmud, Timur, and, as we shall soon 
see, a still more dreadful conqueror, Nadir, made their destruc- 
tive irruptions. 

Immersed in shameless debauchery, no active vigorous exer- 
tions were taken by Mahommed and his ministers to check the 
torrent of insubordination that threatened to subvert the empire. 
Palliatives were alone used to check the advances of the two 
former, the chief of the Rajapouts, Ajeet Sing, being confirmed 
in the government of Ajmere, from which it had been attempted 
to remove him, and the choute being allowed to the Mahrattas 
by the Mogul governor of Guzzurat. With respect to the 
Nizam, every effort was made to inveigle him to court, and 
the high station of Vizier was promised him ; but for a long 
time the crafty viceroy resisted every solicitation. At length, 

* Major Rennell. 



A. D. 1723.] 



however, being still more closely pressed, by letters from the 
emperor himself, and having settled matters on a firm basis in 
Deccan, he resorted thither at the head of a well-disciplined 
army of 10,000 men, as his guard, on whose fidelity in any 
emergency he knew he might place an entire dependence. Thus 
attended he met with a most gracious reception from the empe- 
ror, was appointed Absolute Agent, a rank higher than Vizier, 
and honoured with the title of Asof Jan.* 

The Nizam, educated in the rigid school of Aurungzeb, and 
attached to his maxims both in politics and war, immediately 
urged upon the Emperor the necessity that existed for restoring 
the affairs of government to their ancient order and discipline ; 
for a total reformation of manners , and a strict observance of 
the wise but severe laws enacted by that great man. Mahommed, 
who had recently married a daughter of the late emperor, Fur- 
rukseer, and at intervals was capable of serious reflection, listened 
to the hoary monitor, then in his eightieth year, with attention 
and respect, but his profligate courtiers ridiculed his projects of 
reform, which agreed not with the dissoluteness of their manners, 
and endeavoured to divert the Emperor's mind from attending to 
his grave admonitions by renewed dissipations. On the other 
hand, the veteran warrior, finding no efforts made to put those 
admonitions into practice, and disdaining to be the associate of 
men, who passed their whole time with abandoned women and 
low buffoons, solicited permission to march with his army into 
Guzzurat, and restore order in that distracted province. That 
permission was easily obtained, and the courtiers viewed with 

* Asof Jah, says Mr. Fraser, is a title commonly given to Viziers. It signifies, 
in place and rank as Asof, whom, they say, was Solomon's Vizier. At the same 
time that they honour their Viziers with this title, they flatter their own vanity, by 
comparing themselves to Solomon. 



C 54* 3 



[A. D. 1730. 



joy the departure of a man of power too strong to be opposed, 
and of manners too inflexibly rigid to be seduced. The rebellion 
that had been secretly cherished by himself in Guzzurat was 
soon allayed by his presence in that province, to be excited again 
whensoever it suited the determined purposes of his ambition. 
The Mahrattas, indeed, were now become the necessary engines 
of that ambition, and shortly after his return to Deccan, without 
leave, he again solicited them to avert the vengeance that was ful- 
minated against him from Delhi. He entered into an agreement 
with Rajah Sahoo, that a large body of that nation should imme- 
diately march northwards, and, ravaging all before them,, pene- 
trate even to the vicinity of Agra and Delhi. He hoped by this 
bold measure to rouze from their dream of indolence the luxu- 
rious emperor, and his besotted ministers, and that they might 
see and feel the absolute necessity of defending themselves and 
protecting the throne before they ventured to march an imperial 
army into Deccan. 

In consequence, the Mahrattas, under the command of their 
most celebrated general, Bajerow, in 1730 commenced that fatal 
invasion, which with one tremendous sweep laid for ever low the 
humbled majesty of the empire. Their first attack was on Malva 
and Guzzurat, where the Mogul governor for some time made a 
vigorous resistance, but timely succours not being sent from 
Delhi, they were finally defeated, the country was extensively 
devastated, and has ever since remained in the hands of the con- 
querors. Bahadur, the viceroy of Malva, who died bravely 
fighting at the head of the provincial troops, wrote several re- 
monstrative letters to the ministers, and told them in the most 
positive terms, that if properly supported, while he lived he would 
prevent the Mahrattas from pursuing their conquests further 
northward ; but that if he fell, and they passed the frontiers of 



A. D. 1732.] 



C 543 3 



Malva, they would infallibly over-run the whole empire. Bahadur 
was not supported, fell at his post, and, on his death, the prophecy 
was too amply verified. It seems to have been the aim of the Visier 
to subdue the enemies of the empire, not by arms, but by intrigue 
and bribery, a glaring proof of which was soon exhibited in the 
regular appointment by a fir maun of Bajerow to the soubahdary 
of Malva, thus rivetting the power which a more enlarged policy 
should have resisted to the last gasp of the expiring empire. 
But, observes the Oriental historian, the subtle fox cannot over- 
come the lion ; and it was not by imprudent concession that such 
men as Bajerow and the Nizam were to be checked in the career 
of their insatiable ambition. 

Notwithstanding, therefore, these ill-judged attempts at paci- 
fication we find the Mahrattas, in 1732, rapidly advancing their 
hostile legions towards Agra, and plundering even the districts 
appropriated to the support of the royal household. Thus in- 
sulted, and even braved, it became impossible for the imperial 
army to remain any longer inactive. It took the field in great 
force under the command of Muzzuffir, the Visier's brother, and 
every effort was made to bring on a general action with them ; 
but the cautious Mahrattas declined, as usual, engaging him in 
the field. They contented themselves with perpetually harassing 
his line of march, and cutting off* its supplies. The army, how- 
ever, continued its progress without any opportunity of display- 
ing its prowess, except in occasional skirmishes, till it reached 
Malva, where it met with the same mode of desultory attack 
which it had experienced in its march, and after a residence of 
some months at Sironje in that province, returned without having 
rendered any substantial service to the empire. The negative 
success that had attended the expedition was magnified by the 
Visier beyond victory ; Muzziflir entered Delhi in triumph; and 



[A. D. 1734. 



was presented with a rich tassel of jewels for the turban ; an 
honour, seldom conferred, but on the most distinguished con- 
querors. 

Repulse only inflamed the hostile fury of those marauders, 
and incited them to new aggressions. In 1734, they renewed 
their devastations in the neighbourhood of Gualior, and in the 
suburbs of Agra, when the ameer al omra and the visier took 
the field to oppose them. But the campaign again terminated 
without any signal success over an enemy that always fled at 
their approach, and still eluded every attempt to bring them to 
close action, while their excursive legions, spreading in all direc- 
tions, plundered the country without mercy, and treated the 
inhabitants with the greatest cruelty. The following year a 
considerable body of them crossed the Jumna with intent to 
plunder the rich province of Oude, of which Sadit Khan, a gene- 
ral of great experience, of tried valour, and having under his 
command a body of troops of superior courage and discipline, 
was the governor. Sadit immediately marched against them, by 
his superior skill brought them to action, and after an obstinate 
engagement defeated them, took two of their principal officers, 
and killed 5000 of them.* In attempting to repass the Jumna 
vast numbers were drowned, and the general, Mullar Row with 
difficulty reached the camp of Bajerow near Gualior. Bajerow, 
not at all discouraged by this misfortune, prepared to act against 
the Moguls with increased vigour ; while Sadit, flushed with his 
recent triumph, and burning for military glory resolved to 
follow up the blow, and, if possible, drive those barbarous in- 
vaders beyond the bounds of Hindostan Proper. 

Intelligence being brought to Delhi of this signal defeat of 
the Mahrattas, the Vizier, and the prince of omrahs thinking 

* Fraser, p. 66. 



A. D. 1734,.] 



C 545 3 



the present a proper opportunity to strike a decisive blow, 
immediately put the imperial army in motion, and marched 
towards Agra. Sadit was already far advanced in his march 
towards Gualior, when he received orders from the imperial 
commanders to halt till he could join them with his forces, in 
order, that united, they might act with more effect against the 
common enemy. Those orders that chief very reluctantly 
obeyed, because he was well acquainted with the rapid motions 
of the foe with whom they had to contend, and the importance 
of expedition. What that sagacious commander had conjectured 
actually took place. Bajerow, knowing the capital was almost 
deserted of troops, at the head of his choicest and best mounted ca- 
valry pushed forward with the rapidity of lightning to Feridabad, 
ten coss from Delhi, which place they plundered ; and arrived 
in the suburbs of Delhi, before -any tidings of his movement had 
reached that capital. The emperor, dissolved in pleasure, and 
the nobles and citizens utterly unprepared for resistance, were 
thrown into the utmost consternation. Paleness sate on every 
face, and despair reigned in every heart. Never before for ages 
had an armed enemy, not of the royal blood, or combating in 
defence of it, dared to approach so near the august abode of the 
race of Timur. For three successive days they continued plun- 
dering the wretched inhabitants, and laying in ruins whatever 
was valuable and sacred in the environs of that great city. On 
the fourth day, when they were on the point of entering the 
metropolis, arrived Sadit Khan, with the Vizier and ameer al 
omrah at the head of the imperial army, when the enemy was 
attacked, defeated and put to flight. They were pursued by the 
two latter as far as Alaverdi Khan's serai, about seven coss 
from Delhi, where being joined by others of their tribe, they 
made a resolute stand, and the two ministers, rather than hazard 

4, A 



C W 3 ; [A. d. 1735, 

a second battle, consented to an inglorious compromise of their 
own honour and that of the empire, by agreeing to pay the 
Chout for Delhi and Agra, on condition of their immediately 
evacuating those provinces. Having thus obtained their object 
by an immense accumulation of plunder, and by laying the im- 
perial throne itself under contribution, the Mahrattas retreated 
to Malva, and the Mogul army returned to Delhi, whence the 
brave Sadit Khan, disgusted at the base compact entered into 
with the determined enemies of the empire, abruptly, and with- 
out taking leave of the emperor, who by Dowran's persuasion 
had confirmed it, departed for his province. This fatal compact, 
which gave the death-blow to the empire, took place towards 
the close of the year 1735.* 

In the mean time the Nizam continued extending his conquests, 
and his influence in Deccan, and though in the receipt of a vast 
annual revenue, under the pretended necessity of keeping up a 
great standing army to over-awe the Mahrattas, remitted no- 
thing to court. Nor were the accustomed revenues received 
from the rich provinces of Malva, Narwah, Biana, and Ajmere, 
which had been so ravaged by the Mahrattas that no taxes 
could be levied on the unfortunate inhabitants. In this perplexed 
situation of public affairs, and as the chief cause of that perplexity 
was known to arise from the discontent of the Nizam, new efforts 
were made by the emperor to pacify that omrah and allure him 
once more to court. The emperor was probably sincere in his 
wishes in the present emergency to have the benefit of the advice 
of so great a statesman ; but his ministers could only desire his 
presence at Delhi, the sooner accomplish his destruction ; and 
however incredible it may seem that so crafty a politician, as 

* Fraser's Nadir Shah, p. 66. Scott's Deccan, p. 201. Dow's Decline of the 
Mogul Empire, vol. iii. p. 316. 



A. D. 1736.] 



C 547 3 



the viceroy of tlie Deccan, should again trust himself in the 
hands of those who considered him as the greatest obstacle 
to their projects, and plans, those efforts were successful. That 
event, according to Fraser, who was at that time in India, 
and might have obtained his information from an authentic 
quarter, was accomplished through the means of Mihr Parver, 
the emperor's grandmother, who had great influence over that 
omrah, and at his urgent request wrote to him letters, full 
of kindness, and assuring him that he should have the entire 
management of affairs at Delhi, provided he came without 
delay. He complied with her request, but met with no better 
treatment than before. The omrahs, not only disregarded him, 
but took all opportunities of affronting him, especially Dowran 
and his creatures, who, when he came to pay his respects at 
court, used to ridicule him, saying in a scoffing manner, Observe 
how the Deccan monkey dances. This usage having wrought him 
up to the highest pitch of inflamed resentment, he was resolved 
to revenge himself by distressing the empire, and destroying 
Dowran and his creatures. He imparted his design to the Vizier 
Kammir o'deen Khan, imagining he would join with him. But 
notwithstanding the alliance between them, (Nizam's son being 
married to the Vizier's daughter, and the Vizier's son to Nizam's 
daughter) he could not engage him to join in any plot detrimental 
to the public interest ; on the contrary, he used his endeavours 
to dissuade him from the project, by representing to him the 
infamy of sacrificing his country to private resentment. When 
Nizam perceived he would not come into his measures, he ap- 
plied himself to Sadit Khan, the Soubahdar of Oude, who then 
had a great body of men at his command, was an officer of ex- 
perience, and had lately raised his reputation by his action with 
the Mahrattas ; and, what was still more to his purpose, had, 



C 5*8 3 [A. D. 1737. 



since that time, stood ill-affected towards the emperor and his 
favourite. These omrahs having entered into an agreement, it 
was resolved that Nadir Shah, ruler of Persia, who was then be- 
sieging Candahar, should be the instrument of distressing the 
emperor, and of removing Dowran from his counsels for ever.* 
Such is Fraser's concise statement of this important combination, 
by which a great though declining empire was utterly subverted, 
and an ancient dynasty plunged in irretrievable ruin. In de- 
scribing the calamity itself, it will be necessary to go into a more 
extensive detail ; for the annals of Asia record no event more 
momentous in its consequences than the invasion of India by 
Nadir Shah. 

That conqueror, but newly seated on the usurped throne of 
Persia, on account of insults offered to his embassador, and of the 
protection afforded by the Mogul governor on the frontiers to the 
rebellious Afghans, his subjects, already harboured a secret re- 
sentment against the court of Delhi, but till the invitation received 
from those disaffected omrahs does not seem to have meditated any 
irruption of the extent and magnitude that afterwards took place. 
The splendour of the exploit, and the immensity of the plunder, 
by which the myriads who composed his army might be sup- 
ported without oppressing Persia with new burthens, urged him 
to undertake an expedition by which his ambition and his avarice 
might at once be gratified. Having at length planted his victo- 
rious standards on the heights of Candahar, Nadir set out for 
Cabul, according to the before-mentioned author, at the head of 
80,000 horse, composed of various nations and tribes, but all in- 
ured to hardships, and from their infancy trained to war. Nasser 
Khan, the governor of that soubah, having in vain solicited aux^ 
iliary troops from Delhi, retreated nearer the capital to Peishore 4 

P Fraser, p. 69. 



A. D. 1738-] 



in hopes of making a more successful stand ; but Sherzih Khan, 
the more resolute governor of the castle of Cabul, refused to 
surrender the keys, and defended both the city and castle for six 
weeks with the most undaunted bravery. During this period he 
wrote repeated letters to court for assistance ; but none arriving, 
both city and castle were at length taken by storm, and he and 
his son were put to death. Nadir Shah found there treasure, 
jewels, arms, &c. to a vast amount, which had been laid up in 
vaults ever since the reign of Sultan Baber.* 

According to Sir W. Jones's summary but luminous account 
of this invasion, of which we shall now have the benefit, the 
Persian army lay encamped in the plains of Cabul till the middle 
of June, 1738, in which interval Nadir sent an expostulatory 
letter to the Mogul, containing a succinct narrative of the affront 
he had received, of his resolution to chastise the insolence of the 
Afghans, and of the obstruction made to his progress by the 
governor of Cabul ; he declared, that he had strictly forbidden 
the least act of violence by his soldiers, and that he desired- no- 
thing so much as the continuance of their mutual friendship. 
This letter was entrusted to an envoy, who set out for Delhi 
attended by several chiefs of Cabul, who were enjoined to con- 
firm the truth of his assertions : but, when they reached Gela- 
labad,the governor of that. place put the Persian envoy to death, 
and compelled the chiefs of Cabul to return. Nadir Shah could 
no longer brook such a succession of injuries, but marched with 
great rapidity towards Gelalabad, 70 miles below Cabul, and, on 
the 28th of July, encamped at Kendemac, a place remarkable for 
the serenity of its air, and the beauties of its situatior. From 
this place he detached a body of Persians against Gelalabad, who 
entered the city without opposition on the 10th of August; but 

• Frascr, p 132. 



C 55o 3 [A- P. 1738. 



the governor Mir Abbas, conscious of his crime, and fearing the 
•punishment due to it, retreated to a fortress situated on a 
mountain of very difficult access. The Persians attacked his 
intrenchments, and took the fort by assault : Mir Abbas was 
killed, together with the Indians that attended him, and his 
family were sent in chains to the royal camp. 

Soon after, the Persian army marched to the east of Gelalabad, 
and halted in the station of Rikab, where Nadir received intelli- 
gence of a formidable army, that was preparing to oppose him. 
Nasser Khan, governor of Cabul, had assembled on that spot a 
considerable body of Afghans and Indians, and was resolved to 
dispute with the Persian invaders the passage of Peishor, which 
was also defended by a strong castle. Upon this information, 
Nadir left the artillery with the prince Nafralla, and advanced 
with great celerity towards Peishore ; the next day, after a rapid 
march, he reached the army of Nasser, who were so astonished 
at the incredible haste of the Persians, that their courage and re- 
solution wholly forsook them : their ranks were broken in an 
instant, and those only escaped the sword, who had recourse to 
a precipitate flight. Nasser, and several Indian chiefs, were 
taken prisoners ; and their camp was entirely pillaged : the cap- 
tives were kept under close confinement, and the plunder was 
distributed among the Persian soldiers. After this victory the 
fortress of Peishore was easily taken, and the king staid several 
days in the adjacent plains, in order to refresh his troops, and to 
wait for the arrival of the prince Nafralla. 

That prince having at length arrived, Nadir resumed his 
march, and with the skill and firmness of a great general whom 
no difficulties could retard, and no dangers dismay, safely con- 
ducted the army over the five branches of the river Indus, which 
at that season were swelled with the rains, and flowed with the 







A. D. 1739] £ 551 3 

most rapid current. A numerous army was assembled on the 
opposite banks, under the command of Zekaria, governor of 
Lahore : but whether they were alarmed at the swift progress 
and formidable appearance of the Persians, or confounded at 
their surprising passage over the Indus, they retreated with a 
mixture of terror and astonishment. As Nadir continued to ad- 
vance towards the city of Lahore, Zekaria sent an officer of rank, 
with a considerable present, to implore his clemency, and to pro- 
mise the strictest submission. This messenger met with a fa- 
vourable reception, and Zekaria, having received many marks of 
distinction, was confirmed in his government of Lahore. At the 
same time Nasser was admitted into favour, having been bribed, 
according to Fraser, by the conspirators, and returned, by the 
permission of the conqueror, to the capital of his province. 

In the mean time the Mogul was preparing to obstruct the 
progress of these victorious invaders ; he had marched twenty- 
five leagues from the metropolis of his empire, and lay encamped 
on the plains of Karnal, with an army of thirty thousand Indians, 
and two thousand armed elephants : the rest of his very numerous 
forces were making all possible haste to join him, and were 
commanded by the most illustrious princes of India. It was not 
long before Nadir's emissaries gave him a full account of Ma- 
li >mmed's situation ; upon which he left Lahore, and arrived at 
Sjrhind on the 8th of January, 1739, whence he dispatched six 
thousand Persians to examine the Indian camp, while he conti- 
nued in full march towards it, with the rest of the army. On the 
10th he reached Ambala, about thirty miles from Karnal ; and, 
in the same night, the detachment fell upon the Mogul's camp, 
and, having slain or taken prisoners a great number of the 
guards, retreated to Azimabad, where they were joined on the 
14th by the royal forces. Nadir was informed by the Indian 



[ 552 ] 



[A. D. 1739. 



prisoners, that the plain of Karnal was defended on the eastern 
and western sides by a broad river, and a very thick forest, that 
the intrenchments of Mahommed were guarded by three hundred 
pieces of artillery, and that he was waiting for the vast armies of 
the Vizier, his commander in chief, and his other ministers. The 
next morning the Persians continued their march, and pitched 
their tents six miles from the Mogul's camp ; towards which 
Nadir made an excursion, and returned after an exact survey of 
it He then advanced to the east of Karnal, and, arriving at a 
large plain about a league from the Indians, he encamped in a 
very advantageous situation. In the evening he had intelligence, 
that Sadit, an Indian prince of very high rank, was hastening to 
join Mahommed, with thirty thousand men. It was too late to 
intercept this reinforcement, which reached Karnal at midnight : 
but a troop of Persians who had been sent for that purpose, at- 
tacked the rear of the Indians and plundered the baggage of 
Sadit. This loss exasperated that general to the highest degree, 
and drove him to the fatal resolution of advancing early the next 
morning against Nadir Shah, without considering the disadvantage 
of acting offensively against an invading enemy, who might other- 
wise have been reduced to great extremities in a country so little 
known to him, or compelled to fight upon very unequal terms : 
but Mahommed and the Indian princes, who had been softened 
by a life of luxury and indolence, deceived by the vast number 
of their forces, and wholly void of experience in military affairs, 
determined to venture on a battle, and hastened to the support of 
Sadit, with a vain confidence of victory. They were soon joined 
by Khan Dowran, commander in chief, Nizam al Muluck, prince 
of Deccan, Kammir o'deen, the Grand Vizier, and many other 
able generals, at the head of very numerous armies, divided into 
three bodies, which extended to an amazing length on the field 



A. D. 1739a 



C 553 J 



of battle. Nadir Shah was so far from being disheartened at 
the sight of this formidable armament, that he is said to have 
been animated beyond his usual degree of courage : he knew, 
that an army of soft and enervated Indians were little able to 
oppose the hardy troops, whom he had trained to arms by the 
most excellent discipline, and allured to engage with more 
ardour than ever, by the hopes of sharing the spoils of so rich a 
kingdom ; he perceived the folly of his adversaries, in bringing 
to the field such enormous pieces of ordnance, which they were 
unable to conduct with skill, and in depending upon the number 
of their elephants, which could not fail to distress and impede 
them in a general action.* 

These considerations gave him such an assurance of success, 
that he ordered Nafralla to stay behind with the greatest part of 
the artillery, and rushed with a wild impetuosity upon the 
Indians. The shock was equally violent on both sides, but the 
two armies were conducted with a very different spirit ; for while 
the Persians were able, with very little impediment, to seize 
every advantage that presented itself, their enemies were quickly 
thrown into confusion, and would have made but a short resist- 
ance, if so unwieldy a body could even have retreated with 
speed. After a scene of havock and disorder for five hours, the 

• The above, it will be recollected, is the Persian account of this invasion, 
written by an historian in the train of Nadir, therefore probably not without pre- 
judice in favour of his hero, and certainly not acquainted with the secret springs of 
the actions of Nadir Shah, and of the Indian Omrahs. Authentic documents collected 
by our countrymen at Delhi, place things in a very different point of view, and 
evidently demonstrate a collusion between the principal agents in this dark affair. 
Sadit, in thus prematurc'y attacking the Persians, undoubtedly acted treacherously , 
with a view to throw himself into their hands; for no general, consummately 
skilled in the art of war like hirmelf, would have acted in this manner, and thus 
early and precipitately bring on a general e ngagement. 

4 B 



C 554 3 



[A. D. 1739. 



prince Sadit, who had been the first to take the field, was the 
first to leave it ; and his troops by their sudden flight imparted 
a general terror to Mahommed, and his ministers, who retired 
in haste to their camp at Karnal, and depended for their safety 
on the strength of their intrenchments. The rout of the Indian 
army soon became universal ; the two nephews of Sadit, who 
were mounted upon the same elephant, were taken prisoners ; 
Khandowran received a wound, of which he died the next day ; 
and ten princes of eminent rank, with an hundred nobles and 
officers of distinction, and thirty thousand of their soldiers were 
slain in the action ; great numbers of Indians were made cap- 
tives, and all their elephants, horses, and instruments of war fell 
into the hands of the conquerors. 

After this victory, Nadir Shah advanced to the camp of Ma- 
hommed, which he found so strongly fortified, that he could not 
attack it with advantage, but thought it more prudent to enclose 
it on all sides, and to distress the Indians, who were almost de- 
stitute of provisions, by a continual blockade : on the third day 
after this, the ministers of Mahommed, finding it impossible 
either to exist in that confinement, or to escape from it, prevailed 
with him to preserve his life at the expence of his kingdom, and 
by resigning his diadem, to calm the resentment of the conqueror. 
The great Mogul perceived the necessity of this expedient, and 
left his entrenchments, attended only by the prince of Deccan, 
the grand Vizier, and his other nobles. When Nadir was in- 
formed of his approach in this submissive manner, he sent the 
prince Nafralla to meet him, and himself received him at the 
door of his tent, where he took him by the hand with great 
mildness, and placed him by his side on the throne. Mahommed 
resigned his crown in form, and was treated, on that day and the 
next, as a guest in the Persian camp, where he received every 



A. D. 1739.3 



C 555 3 



demonstration of respect. On the 1st of February, Nadir ad- 
vanced towards Delhi ; and on the 7th he encamped in the 
gardens of Shallimar ; where Mahommed obtained leave to enter 
the city, in order to prepare his palace for the reception of his 
vanquisher. Nadir followed him on the 9th ; and was conducted 
to a magnificent edifice, built by the Mogul Shah Jehan, which, 
upon this occasion, was decorated with every ornament that the 
treasury of Mahommed could supply. That unfortunate mo- 
narch, finding himself reduced to the condition of a private 
nobleman, prepared to attend his conqueror with the lowest 
marks of submission : but Nadir Shah soon raised him from the 
state of dejection into which he was sunk, by declaring that he 
would reinstate him on the throne of his ancestors, and that he 
would repair the late breach in their friendship, by maintaining 
a perpetual alliance with the Indian empire, and by giving him a 
sure support upon every exigence : but that he would stay some 
time at Delhi, to refresh his army after their long expedition. The 
Mogul was so penetrated with this unexpected act of generosity, 
that he expressed his gratitude in the strongest manner, and 
having stripped his treasury of the most valuable jewels and 
curiosities that were deposited in it, he brought them as a present 
to Nadir Shah. These treasures consisted of rich vases adorned 
with gems, vast heaqs of gold and silver in coin and ingots, with 
a great variety of sumptuous furniture, thrones, and diadems : 
amongst the rest was the famous throne in the form of a pea- 
cock, in which the pearls and precious stones were disposed in 
such a manner as to imitate the colours of that beautiful bird, and 
which was said to be worth two millions and a half sterling.* 
Such is the substance of Sir W. Jones's account of Nadir's 

* Sir W. Jones's History of Nadir Shah, section V. on the Indian invasion, p. 85, 
86, et scq. oct. edit. 1773. 



t 556 1 CA.D. 1739. 

Indian irruption, founded, as before observed, on the authority of 
a Persian manuscript, translated by himself for the king of Den- 
mark, at an early period of life. He allows that the writer, who 
attended Nadir in most of his expeditions, might be somewhat 
partial in his narration, but he contends for the general correct- 
ness of the facts recorded, and, except in its silence as to the 
circumstance of the conspiracy, and Nadir's boundless rapacity, it 
accords pretty accurately with those of Fraser and others. Coming 
from such a source I thought it too curious to be omitted ; but 
the accounts of the suffering Indians themselves must also be 
heard, and the picture is in most parts charged with colours of 
a much more dark and sanguinary hue. 

According to native authors, consulted by our countrymen, 
the Mogul fortified camp at Karnal extended seven coss in cir- 
cumference ; and the army itself, an army, according to Mr. 
Orme, famished by its own numbers,* amounted to nearly half a 
million, with a train of a thousand pieces of artillery, linked toge- 
ther by massy chains.^ The number of the elephants is, how- 
ever, doubtless greatly over-rated at 2000. The enormous wealth 
obtained by Nadir at Delhi was by no means a voluntary gift, 
as the Persian author affirms, for by far the greatest part was 
extorted by blood and stripes from the miserable inhabitants, 
and in its total value amounted, not, as he seems to intimate, 
to thirty millions, but, as we shall hereafter see, to above sixty 
millions sterling. The substance of what less partial writers have 
related , as occurring after the battle, or rather skirmish of a few 
hours, that laid the crown of India at the feet of Nadir, is as 
follows. 

After the various ceremonial visits paid by the humbled em- 
peror to his conqueror, who, according to Fraser, was by no 

* Orme, tol. i. p. 39. t Scott's Deccan, vol, ii. p. 201, 



A. D. 1739.] 



C 557 3 



means so polite or condescending as the Persian relates, but 
severely reproached him for his obstinacy, his treatment of his 
embassadors, and his degrading the throne of Timur by paying 
the choute to the infidel Mahratta race ; after these visits, and 
repeated conferences holden with the Nizam * and Sadit respect- 
ing the immense sum to be paid for the ransom of the emperor 
and his capital, amounting, under the softer name of peishcush, 
to twenty -five millions sterling, the two armies began their 
march for Delhi in the most guarded and cautious manner pos- 
sible. It commenced on the 2d of March. Nadir Shah marched 
first at the head of 20,000 chosen horse : in a line with Nadir, at 
the distance of a coss proceeded his haram, guarded by 4,000 
horse. Mahommed Shah, accompanied by 4,0 or 50 only of hi s 
attendants, but with a guard of honour of 10,000 Kezzlebash horse 
(resolute soldiers of Persia resembling the Janizaries of Turkey) 
and 2000 harquebussiers followed Nadir at a distance of one coss. 
The Nizam, Vizier, and other great officers, with their attendants, 
followed half a coss distant from each other, and separated by 
Kezzlebash horse to prevent their junction. The extent of 
ground which they covered in their march was five coss in 
length and three in breadth, and the same method was observed 
on every day's march. On the 7th of March the grand cavalcade 
arrived at the gardens of Shallimar, described before, and on the 

* The Nizam's reception Js thus described in letters from Delhi : " On the 
17th of February Nizam al Muluck, with Azim Allah Khan, and a guard of 
horsemen, went out, and a small tent being pitched between the two camps, Nadir 
b.. uh's Vizier came, and from thence conducted him to his master, who embraced 
him sitting, and made him stand honourably, close by himself; he gave him a cup 
of sherbet, and made him cat at the Vizier's house. The conference was conti- 
nued all that day, and the 1 8th, at the close of which he received a rich dress on 
being ma :1c captain general and ameer al omrah in the room of the deceased 
Dowran Khan." Frascr, p. 161. 



c 558 j m> d. 1739. 

Sth Mahommed, accompanied by 4000 Kezzlebash horse, by- 
Nadir's permission, entered the castle. The conqueror delayed 
his triumphal entry till the following day, when it took place 
with all the caution imaginable, and at the head of 20,000 horse ; 
the rest of the army encamped without the walls of the city. 

On Saturday the 10th of March the sun entered Aries — that 
sun which had often witnessed the unequalled pomp, the unri- 
valled glory of the house of Timur, now beheld the usurper of 
the throne of the Sefi's, sitting on the imperial musnud of India, 
and receiving extorted offerings of inestimable value from her 
degraded emperor, and her prostrate nobility. These presents, 
together with the treasures found in the subterraneous vaults of 
the palace, hoarded up since the reign of the magnificent Shah 
Jehan, and sealed with the seal of the empire, and the peacock 
throne, with nine others of inferior lustre and value, amounted by 
the lowest computation, to thirty-five millions sterling. Of gold 
and silver plate, which he melted down and coined, the amount 
exceeded five millions ; of utensils set with jewels, and of jewels 
unset, five millions more. In the richest brocades and stuffs of 
Indian manufacture he received the value of two millions ; in 
horse and elephant caparisons, adornedwith gold and gems, three 
millions ; in all, fifty millions sterling ! A more general and 
complete depredation was never committed by any imperial rob- 
ber in ancient or modern times. 

Enormous, however, as was this amount, that robber was by 
no means satisfied with it ; but gave orders for levying a peish- 
cush of eight millions more upon the merchants and inhabitants of 
the opulent city of Delhi. In raising this additional sum the most 
severe cruelties were exercised, and many of them died under 
the extreme tortures inflicted upon them, by those appointed to 
collect it. Many also of the higher order of nobles, who were 



A.D.i 7390 t 559 3 

supposed to have not made offerings proportionate to their im- 
mense fortunes, were called upon for additional sacrifices. The 
two traitors, Sadit and the Nizam, who by their inviting Nadir to 
invade Hindostan, had brought such incalculable evils upon their 
country, were amerced in very large sums ; Sadit a million, 
and the Nizam a million and a half. The former having been 
spoken to by Nadir, in terms of great severity, respecting the 
collection of the peishcush money, being in a languid state of 
health, was so affected, that on the following morning he died, 
though it was generally reported, that, agonizing with remorse, 
he had accelerated his fate by swallowing poison. Persons the 
most venerable for age and virtue were not spared, and some 
were assessed double what they were able to pay. The severity 
of these exactions irritated the populace to madness ; tumul- 
tuous insurrection in many places was the result ; and resistance 
was made, wheresoever it could be made with effect. To these ca- 
lamities, succeeded the more dreadful one of famine, occasioned 
by the increased multitudes of men and horses that inundated the 
province of Delhi. An attempt of the Persian commander of 
Delhi, to regulate the price of wheat at the public granaries, 
caused the spark, which was already kindled, to burst forth into 
a flame, which was only to be quenched by the blood of 100,000 
of its inhabitants. Fraser states the first commotion to have 
taken place about noon ; that it was considerably increased to- 
wards evening ; that after sunset, some persons having reported 
that Nadir was taken prisoner, and others that he was poisoned, 
the mob and tumult exceeded all bounds ; and all the idle and 
disaffected of that great city, joining from all quarters, with such 
implements of destruction as they could most readily procure, 
rushed in a torrent towards the castle, devoting to death every 
foreigner they met, and breathing vengeance against the invaders 



of their country. Of the external guard a considerable portion 
were instantly sacrificed to their fury, and the remainder sought 
safety in flight.* 

On the first tidings of these commotions, Nadir, firm a^d col- 
lected in every difficulty, had dispatched couriers on fleet horses 
to his general in chief, Thamas Khan, who with the rest of the 
army, was encamped without the walls, with orders to commence 
his march, with 30,000 horse, immediately for the capital; and 
the vanguard of that army shortly after arriving, soon routed 
with immense slaughter, the infuriated populace that surrounded 
and threatened to storm the citadel. In a few hours after, the 
whole of this formidable body entered the city ; and Nadir, thus 
re-inforced, at midnight marched out of the castle at their head, 
to crush the insurrection. Inflamed with high resentment against 
the faithless Delhians, but ignorant of the full extent and mag- 
nitude of the evil, he intrepidly led them on towards the great 
mosque of Roshin al Dowlat, which stands in the center of the 
city, and there took his station. All was raging tumult and dis- 
traction around him, but he remained firm and unmoved, acting 
solely on the defensive, and waiting for the break of dawn, to let 
loose his vengeance on the devoted city. The morning, big with 
the fate of Delhi, at length arose ; and discovered to him heaps of 
his Persian soldiers weltering in their blood. An awful, momen- 
tary pause ensued ; and during that pause, a pistol was discharged 
at him, from a neighbouring terrace, the ball of which missed him- 
self, but killed an officer standing close at his side. He imme- 
diately ordered a general massacre to commence from that very 
spot. His squadrons of horse, instantly pouring through the 
streets, put every one, without distinction, aged and young, 
women and children, to death. His foot soldiers at the same, 

* Fraser's Nadir Shah, p. 184. 



A. D. 1739.] [ 561 ] 

time, mounting the walls and terraces, consigned to the same 
fate every soul they found upon them. The love of spoil, and 
the thirst of blood, equally operating on those barbarians, — all 
the bazars of the jewellers, and the houses of the rich citizens in 
that quarter, were first plundered, and then set on fire. Fearful 
of the violation of their women, many of the higher rank of 
Indians collected together their females and their treasures ; and, 
then setting fire to their apartments, consumed them with them- 
selves in one general conflagration. From the same dread, 
thousands of women plunged headlong into tanks and welta 
In every imaginable form of horror, 

Death stalked at large 
Through all the streets of that vast capital, 
And leem'd to reion upon the throne of Delhi.* 

g 

During this dreadful carnage the king of Persia continued in 
the mosque of Roshin al Dowlat. His countenance is said to 
have been dark and terrible, and that, during the paroxysm of 
his rage, none but slaves dared to approach him. At length 
the unfortunate emperor of India, attended by the principal 
omrahs, with sorrowing looks, and eyes fixed on the ground, 
ventured to draw near and intercede for the half ruined city and 
surviving inhabitants. For a time he was obdurate ; at length 
the sternness of his countenance relaxed, and, sheathing his 
sword, he said, For the sake of the prince Mahommed, I for- 
give. The joyful tidings of his wrath appeased were imme- 
diately, by sound of trumpet, conveyed through the city, and 
the work of destruction as instantly ceased. Between the issu- 
ing of the bloody mandate at sun-rise and two o'clock in the 

* Fall of the Mogul ; a tragedy founded on this tremendous catastrophe, and 
presented to the reader in the Appendix. 

4 G 



CA. D. 1739. 



afternoon, 100,000 Delhians of all ages were inhumanly 
butchered. The tyrant then retired into the citadel ; and en- 
quiry being made into the origin of the tumult, several Indians 
of distinguished rank were seized, as the secret abettors of the 
insurrection, and their execution closed the scene of desolation 
and carnage. The once beautiful city of Delhi, in the mean- 
time, exhibited a most dismal spectacle, the great streets being 
filled with the ruins of fallen palaces and houses consumed by 
the fire ; and the smaller streets and passages being absolutely 
choaked up with the multitude of putrefying carcases. To 
avoid the danger of pestilence both Persians and natives were 
for some days employed in removing the bodies of the dead ; 
those of the Indians were heaped up in vast piles, and burned 
in the rubbish of the ruined houses, and those of foreigners 
were buried promiscuously in pits, or thrown into the Jumna. 

The transition from rioting in blood to rioting in intempe- 
rance is a practice congenial to the mind of the tyrant. From 
celebrating the orgies of death, Nadir shortly after proceeded to 
celebrate those of Hymen and Bacchus, for on the 26th of the 
same month, while the sabres of the Persian soldiers were yet 
warm with the slaughter of the Indians, with great pomp and 
splendor were solemnized the nuptials of his son, the prince 
Nasr Allah, with a grandaughter of Aurungzeb ; by which 
politic measure the royal line of Persia and India being united, 
he hoped posterity would see the crown of both empires placed 
on one head. The most sumptuous presents were made to the 
bride on this momentous occasion both by Nadir, and the Indian 
emperor, and omrahs, and the most happy auspices were drawn 
from this august alliance. In the mean time the tribute of the 
peishcush was exacted with increased rigour from the miserable 
inhabitants of Delhi, but at length the full amount being col- 



A. D. 1739.3 



lected ; and the coffers both of the great and the small being 
utterly exhausted, the Persian army in high spirits, refreshed 
with health, and loaded with plunder, Nadir began to think of 
his return to Persia, and having appointed a fixed day for all the 
omrahs to assemble early in the morning at Mahommed's 
apartments, his orders were punctually obeyed. Rich kelauts, 
turbans, and sabres, were prepared for the omrahs, more or 
less decorated with gold and silver ornaments according to 
their rank. With these they were invested, and then proceeded, 
with the dethroned emperor at their head, seated on a royal 
litter under a canopy of state, to the general divan, where Nadir 
received them ; and after the two emperors had embraced, and 
refreshments had been served, a crown set with the most costly 
jewels was brought in, which Nadir, with his own hand, placed 
on the head of Mahommed, making him at the same time those 
apologies which the time and circumstances seemed to demand. 
He was then invested with the other regalia, in like manner set 
with the richest stones. Nadir then saluted him as emperor, 
and after giving him the most salutary advice concerning the 
future government of the empire and his conduct towards the 
omrahs, particularly enjoined him to be cautious of that hoary 
traitor, the Nizam ; adding, If necessary I can be with you at 
the head of my army in forty days from Candahar.* The two 
monarchs then solemnly swore to maintain with each other 

• Nadir is, however, by one of his biographers reported to have declared before 
6ome of his omrahs, that he had acted indiscreetly in regard to two things ; one was 
his restoring the empire to Mahommed Shall, who being unequal to so great a task, 
the affairs of India would become worse than formerly ; the other was, his giving 
quarter to Nizam al Muluck, who being so very subtle and crafty, it was more 
than probable he would raise disturbances ; but as according to the decrees of 
Providence, and the assistance of their own good fortune, he had once passed his 
word to them he could not then recede. 



£A. D. 1739. 



eternal friendship ; and Mahommed, as a pledge of his since- 
rity, made over to Nadir, and his successors on the Persian 
throne for ever, all the provinces situated on the west of the 
Indus ; a cession extremely gratifying to Nadir, as some of 
them had anciently been considered as part of Khorasan, and 
had been the object of much contention between the two 
nations.* 

On the 7th of May Nadir commenced his march for Persia, 
and on the evening of that day encamped in the gardens of 
Shallimar. His exit from Hindostan was marked by the same 
dreadful scenes of devastation as his ingress ; and of the im- 
mense wealth which he carried out of it a great portion is said to 
have been buried in the Indus ; owing to the bridge of boats which 
he had thrown over it being carried away by the rapidity of the 
stream, and with it many of the animals that were loaded with 
treasure. On the banks of that river a new, and almost incredi- 
ble instance of his insatiable avarice is related by Khojeh Abdul- 
kurreem, a Cashmirian nobleman in his train, and is deserving 
of notice, because it marks the absolute control of this great 
conqueror over the soldiers who fought under his banners, 
many of them perhaps not less avaricious or eager for diamonds 
than himself. Two jewels of inestimable value, that had adorned 
the turban of the Mogul, being missing from the royal treasury, 
a search was ordered to be made for them among the baggage 
of the army. That search not being successful, Nadir issued 
a decree, challenging all precious stones whatever taken 
in the plunder of Hindostan as his property, and ordering all 
the treasures of that kind, under penalty of death, to be brought 
into the treasury. But this was not sufficient : officers were 
placed at the ferry to examine all persons before they passed 

* Frascr's Nadir Shah, p. 223. Jones's Nadir Shah, p. 93, ubi supra. 



A- D. 1739.I C 565 3 

the river ; and if any valuable jewels were discovered upon 
them, to seize and send them to the royal repository. Upon the 
publication of this order some of the soldiers came of themselves 
and delivered up the jewels they had got in plunder, and these 
were rewarded with dresses and other presents. From others 
ware taken what they had concealed in the packs and saddles of 
their horses, camels, or mules. Some buried their stores in the 
ground, hoping that after the search was over they might be 
able to return and dig them up again ; but from the strict orders 
of Nadir Shah, which were punctually obeyed, it was impossible 
for any one to reeross the river ; and thus the treasure remained 
in the bowels of its parent earth. Others, out of rage and indig- 
nation, threw into the river whatever they had concealed.* 

Nadir in fact delighted in this kind of wealth, of which Hin- 
dostan afforded him so plentiful a harvest. His turban, his tents* 
and his horse caparisons, were always richly adorned with jewels ; 
and he constantly carried about him a sapphire of unrivalled 
magnitude and beauty, with which he was frequently seen to 
amuse himself in his tent. The same noble author has favoured 
us with a description, too curious to be omitted, of the tent deco- 
rated with jewels, which he caused to be fabricated, and exhibited 
at Herat in the following year. When Nadir Shah, says our 
author, an eye witness, was at Delhi, he had such a profusion of 
precious stones, that he ordered the superintendants of the jewel 
office, to make up arms and harness of every kind, inlaid with 
precious stones, and to ornament a large tent in the same 
manner. For this purpose, the best workmen that could be 
procured, were employed a year and two months during the 

* The missing stones were afterwards found among the confiscated effects of a 
general officer puw to death by his order. Memoirs of Khojth Abdulkurrccm, 



C 566 3 £A. D. 1739. 



march ; and when Nadir Shah arrived at Herat, he was informed 
that a great number of the following articles, richly inlaid with 
precious stones, were prepared, viz. horse harness, sword- 
sheaths, quivers, shields, spear cases, and maces; with Sunde- 
lees, or chairs of different sizes, and a large tent lined with 
jewels. The tent was ordered to be pitched in the Dewan 
Khaneh,* in which were placed the Tukht Taoussee, or Peacock 
Throne, brought from Delhi, the Tukht Nadery, with the 
thrones of some other monarchs, together with the inlaid Sun- 
delees. Publication was made by beat of drum throughout the 
city, and the camp, that all persons had liberty to come to this 
magnificent exhibition, such as had never before been seen in 
any age or country. Nadir Shah was not pleased with the form 
of the tent, for, besides being lined with green satin, many of 
the jewels did not appear to advantage : he therefore ordered it to 
be taken to pieces, and a new one to be made, the top of which, 
for the convenience of transportation, should be separate from 
the walls. When he returned to Meshed from his expedition 
into Turan, this new tent being finished, was displayed in the 
same manner as the former one ; but its beauty and magnifi- 
cence are beyond description. The outside was covered with 
fine scarlet broad cloth, the lining was of violet coloured satin, 
upon which were representations of all the more beautiful birds 
and nobler beasts in the creation, with trees and flowers, the 
whole made of pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, amethysts, 
and other precious stones : and the tent poles were decorated in 
like manner. On both sides of the Peacock Throne was a screen, 
upon which were the figures of two angels in precious stones. 
The roof of the tent consisted of seven pieces, and when it was 
transported to any place, two of these pieces packed in cotton, 

* The public hall of audience. 



A. D. 1739.3 C 567 2 

were put into a wooden chest, two of which were a sufficient 
load for an elephant ; and the screen filled another chest! The 
walls of the tent, the tent poles, and the tent pins, which latter 
were of massy gold, loaded five more elephants ; so that for the 
carriage of the whole were required seven elephants, This mag- 
nificent tent was displayed on all festivals in the Dewan Khaneh 
at Herat, during the remainder of Nadir Shah's reign. After his 
death, his nephew Adil Shah, and his grandson Shahrokh, whose 
territories were very limited, and expences enormous, had the 
tent taken to pieces, and dissipated the produce.* 

* Memoirs of Khojeh Abdnlkurreem, p. 32. 



£ 5 es 3 [A. d. 1740. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Affairs at Delhi.— Unlimited power of the Nizam, zvJio, retiring to 
Deccan, becomes independent in that region. — His example fol- 
lowed by most of the other Soubahs in their respective provinces. — 
Insurrection and reduction of the Rohilla Afghans. — Abdallah 
seizes Candahar, and invades Hi?idostan, — Repulsed by the Shah 
Zaddah. — Death of Mahommed Shah. — Death of the Nizam. — ■ 
Sultan Ahmed. ascends the throne. — Fresh insurrection of the Ro- 
hillas and the Jauts. — The Mahrattas called in to the assistance 
of the Moguls. — Fatal effects of that imprudent measure. — Cha- 
racter of Ghazi o'deen the younger. — Renewed war with the Jauts. 
— Ahmed deposed and blinded by Ghazi, who raises to the throne 
Aulumgeer, the second. — Repeated irruptions of Abdallah. 
— Murder of Aulumgeer by Gazi. — Delhi plundered by the 
Mahrattas. — Great battle between the Mahommedan powers and 
the latter, who are defeated. — Shah Aulum ascends the nominal 
throne. — Rapid sketch of his unfortunate history. — His palace 
sacked and plundered by the Rohillas. — Cruel treatment of his 
family by Golam Caudir. — Himself blinded. — In him the Mogul 
empire expires, and with him its histoiy terminates. 

Wh e n the sovereign of Persia had evacuated Hindostan, or, 
to use the allegorical language of the oriental historian, when 
that destructive comet had rolled back from the meridian of 
Delhi, Mahommed and his courtiers seem to have remained for 
some days stupified by the magnitude of the calamity, and little 
public business occupied their thoughts. We have already men-. 



A. D. 174,0.3 



C &9 3 



tioned the ties of consanguinity that bound together, in the 
strictest friendship, the Nizam and Kammer o'd^en, the favourite 
Vizier, viz. that the Nizam's son was married to the Vizier's 
daughter, and the Vizier's son to the Nizam's daughter ; and this 
circumstance, added to his great political talents, will account for 
the unlimited influence that Omrah continued to have in the 
government. In short, he disposed, as he pleased, of honours 
and places. He appointed his own son, Gazi o'deen, captain 
general of the empire ; x^meer Khan, by his advice, was made 
governor of Allahabad, and Sefdar Jung, son of the deceased 
conspirator Sadit Khan, succeeded him in the government of 
Oude. No alteration was made in the other Soubahdaries, nor 
had there been an inclination to remove any of the distant gover- 
nors, in that weakened state of the empire, did Mahommed pos- 
sess the power of doing so. That enervated prince became 
again absorbed in the usual routine of pleasures that occupy a 
luxurious court, to which the Vizier himself was too much in- 
clined ; and, by degrees, even the horrors of the Persian invasion 
were obliterated from their minds. 

In the mean time the Nizam, for whom effeminate pleasures 
had no allurement, had commenced his march for the Deccan, 
where his son Nazir Jing, taking advantage of the distractions at 
Delhi, had raised the standard of independence. When arrived 
at Hydrabad, or Golconda, the capital of his usurped domain, in 
extent amounting nearly to a fourth of the empire, by means 
of his amazing wealth he collected a vast army, and assumed all 
the honours, without the name, of a king. The artifice which he 
made use of to get his rebellious son into his power, strongly 
marks the character of that crafty veteran. The two armies 
being encamped at no great distance from each other, the Nizam, 
now considerably turned of ninety, aflected to be so desperately 

4D 



E 57° 1 [A. D. 1743.. 

afflicted with sickness, as to be near the point of death. He con- 
lined himself to his tent so strictly, and in other respects acted 
the part so well, that the report of his approaching dissolution 
was universally believed by his own army, whence it was diffused, 
as an undoubted fact, through that of Nazir Jing. Urgent and 
repeated solicitations were sent to Nazir Jing, imploring him to 
visit, in this last extremity, a dying father, promising forgive- 
ness, and assuring him of perfect safety if he might be permitted 
to embrace him before he expired. The advanced period of the 
Soubah's life rendering the story higSily probable, added to the 
operation of natural feeling, not wholly extinguished by ambition 
in the breast of Nazir Jing, induced. him, after long hesitation, to 
pay the desired visit, when, immediately on entering the tent of 
this expiring parent, he was arrested and thrown into chains, and 
in that state was, during several months, carried about with him 
a close prisoner, until, at length, a thorough conviction of his 
repentance induced that parent to liberate him, and the lesson 
was so effectual, that he never after was guilty of any disobe- 
dience. 

The Nizam, now equally at leisure from domestic broils and 
court intrigues, began to employ all his great political abilities to 
settle on a permanent basis the affairs of the Deccan, turning out 
the imbecile and corrupt governors, and placing in their room 
men of vigour and experience. By anticipation, when treating 
of the European settlers in the Peninsula, we have already, in 
some degree, traced his progress in that region, and seen the un- 
controlled authority with which he acted, especially when on his 
arrival at Arcot in 1743, he was so struck with the anarchy that 
every where prevailed, and so indignant at the multitude of petty 
chiefs, who had arrogated the title and honours properly belonging 
to himself, that he ordered the first person who should dare again 



A. D. 1744,-3 



to assume those honours, to be scourged.* We have also seen 
that he appointed Abdallah, one of his generals, to be Nabob of 
the Carnatic, and on his sudden death, Anwar-odean, (the father 
of Mahommed Ali) who fell in a conflict fomented by the in- 
trigues of the French. His artful expulsion of Morari Row and 
his Mahrattas from the Deccan, * rather by presents and pro- 
mises than by arms," has been also noticed, and may be consi- 
dered as a strong additional feature in the character of that 
extraordinary man. In fact, about this period, in consequence of 
fhe imbecility of the emperor, and the dissipation of his court, 
the transactions of this Omrah and his family in Deccan, form the 
most interesting portion of the Indian history, and that history has 
been already gi/en.-f The irruptions also of the Mahrattas into 
Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, which make so prominent a feature 
in the history of the period, have been likewise detailed. J 

From the lethargic supineness in which the court of Delhi had 
been so long plunged, it was at length roused in 1744, by an 
insurrection of the Patans, headed by a darir.g chief, named Ali 
Mahommed, of the Rohilla tribe. This chief aimed to make him- 
self independent in those countries between Delhi and Lahore, 
and extending eastward beyond the Ganges, now called Rohil- 
cund, where his ancestors of Afganhistan had been permitted to 
settle, on remitting the usual subsidies to court. Those subsi- 
dies he now refused to discharge, and the Mogul governor of 
the district having marched ag oust him, was defeated With great 
slaughter. Victory induced other Patans to enlist under the 
rebel banners. In a short time his army multiplied exceedingly, 
and the usurpation ot domain became aiarmingly extensive. To 



• Sec Vol. II. p. 291. 

t It is comprised in the second, third, and fourth chapters of Eook V. 
X Vol. II. p. 342. 



CA. D. 1747. 



oppose his farther progress, Kammir o'deen, the Vizier, dis- 
patched his own son, Meer Munnoo, a youth of great bravery, 
&t the head of an army of 30,000 men. Munnoo, crossing the 
Jumna, advanced to the banks of the Ganges ; but found the enemy 
so formidable both by numbers and situation, that, uniting the pru- 
dence of age with the valour of youth, he thought a negotiation 
safer than a battle, and conditions being agreed upon between 
them and signed, he led his army back to Delhi. Those con- 
ditions not being faithfully adhered to, the emperor himself in 
the following year, took the field with 50,000 horse. The Ro- 
hilla chief shut himself up in Bangur, a fortress of considerable 
strength, where he was invested by the royal army, and after a 
short, but bloody siege, was compelled to surrender. He was 
brought prisoner to Delhi ; but afterwards, in the corruption of 
the times, and amid the distraction of the court, found means to 
obtain his release, and was appointed Fojedar of Serhind, where 
he once more appeared with increased strength in arms, and 
finally became the founder of the independent Rohilla govern- 
ment, for a long time the terror of the throne, and execration 
of the Moguls.* 

Nadir Shah, the scourge of nations, fell a victim to the ven- 
geance of an enraged army, in A. D. 1747. Ahmed Abdallah, 
one of his generals and confidentials, an Afghan by birth, had 
risen by that merit which, with Nadir, ever insured success, to 
the high office of treasurer. On the assassination of his patron, 
with the assistance of his own resolute tribe, he contrived to 
carry off three hundred camels, loaded with treasure, to the 
mountains of Afghanistan, where, by means of that treasure, 
having raised a considerable army among the hardy inhabitants 

* For the above and other particulars, see Hamilton's curious " History of the 
Rohilla Afghans," p. 70, et seq. 



A. D. 1748.3 



C 573 1 



of those mountains, he seized upon Candahar, and urged his 
claim to the sovereignty of all the provinces west of the Attock, 
which had formerly been ceded to Nadir by the terrified Mogul. 
After a slight resistance, the Soubah of Cabul was compelled to 
yield ; he experienced a more determined opposition from Mu 1- 
noo, the son of the imperial Vizier, who governed Lahore ; but 
eventually he triumphed. The path to Delhi now lay strait be- 
fore him ; and the successful example of Nadir, added to the 
known imbecility of the government, incited him to attempt the 
conquest and plunder of that capital, which had begun to reco- 
ver from the shock of the former invasion, and again to overflow 
with wealth. 

The approach of Abdallah, at the head of a nation peculiarly 
ferocious, and burning for plunder, filled Mahommed and his 
court with the utmost consternation. The recruited treasury of 
Delhi was again thrown open, and an army of 80,000 horse was 
rapidly levied, at the head of which the young Sultan Ahmed, a 
prince of great promise, under the direction of Kammir o'deen, 
the Vizier, Sefdar Jung, and other distinguished officers, advanced 
against the invader with only 50,000 horse. The two armies came 
within sight of each other near Sirhind, but fearful of the event 
on which so great a stake depended, instead of instantly rushing 
to battle, both parties strongly intrenched themselves. During 
this awful pause, Abdallah having brought some pieces of artil- 
lery to bear on the flank of the imperial army, a random shot 
penetrated the tent of the Vizier, that faithful servant of the 
crown, in the act of performing his evening devotions. As he 
was equally beloved and respected by the army, of which he was 
in fact the commander, it was thought prudent to conceal his 
death, and, without delay, to attack the enemy in his entrench- 
ments. Accordingly, at the break of dawn, the royal army was 
put in motion, and the troops being intrepidly led on to the assault, 



C 574 3 CA- D. 174a. 

by Ahmed and Munnoo, the Vizier's son, in a resistless torrent, 
burst into the camp of Abdallah, who, not wholly unprepared, in 
that situation with heroic resolution defended himself for three 
hours against their whole force. The vast superiority however of 
the imperialists in elephants, who trampling down the intrench- 
ments, spread havoc and dismay wheresoever they moved, contri- 
buted greatly to decide the fortune of the day. The discomfited 
army was pursued by Munnoo several miles from the field of 
battle ; and though some desperate efforts were afterwards made 
by Abdallah, to retrieve the loss he had sustained, yet he was, 
eventually, compelled to retreat across the Nilab with an army 
greatly diminished in numbers, and with the total loss of his 
artillery and baggage. Thus ended the first irruption of this 
famous chief, whom the brave Munnoo was left with a consider- 
able army to keep in check, while Sultan Ahmed commenced his 
triumphant return to Delhi. 

When arrived at Paniput, a city situate about eighty-five 
miles from the metropolis, he received intelligence of the sudden 
death of the emperor his father, a few days before, while sitting 
on the throne, and administering justice in the great Hall of 
Audience. Mahommed had for some time been in a declining 
state of health, and excessive grief, for the loss of his favourite 
Vizier, was supposed to have occasioned the convulsive fit, 
which brought on the fatal catastrophe. Ahmed immediately 
hastened to Delhi, where he was proclaimed emperor in April 
1748, with the usual solemnities ; and of a reign thus auspiciously 
commenced, great was the promise, and ardent the expectations. 

One of the first acts of the new emperor was an offer of the 
post of Vizier to Nizam al Muluck ; but that venerable soubah, 
enjoying in undisturbed tranquillity the ample sovereignty of 
Deccan, declined the offer, and pleaded in excuse his very ad- 
vanced age, being then in his 1 04th year; nor did he long sur- 



A. D. 1748.3 



C 575 3 



vive the emperor ; for not many months after he expired at his 
palace of Aurungabad, leaving the world in astonishment at the 
unimpaired vigour of that genius, and those abilities, which seemed 
only to increase with increasing years. Neither his refusal nor 
his death were the cause of immoderate grief at Delhi, and 
shortly after that high office was conferred on Seffdar Jung, the 
son of Sadit, who has already made so conspicuous a figure in the 
pages of this history, and whose descendants in Oude, for the last 
half century, engross so large a share of that of the Company. 
Nasir Jing, the Nizam's second son, being in possession of his 
father's army and treasury, was, from fear rather than affection, 
confirmed in the Soubahdary of Deccan, and Gazi o'deen, the 
eldest, for the present at least, continued quietly at Delhi, in the 
office of paymaster and captain general. 

The new emperor being in the flower of his age, surrounded 
by flatterers who praised his valour, and allured by all the incen- 
tives to pleasure that the most luxurious court of Asia could 
yield, soon relaxed from the ardour of military pursuits, and be- 
came the victim of indolence and dissipation. Seffdar Jung, the 
Vizier, was distinguished by no pre-eminent abilities ; but con- 
ducting himself in the most haughty and arrogant manner 
towards the Omrahs, was universally detested by them, and 
his downfall universally desired. His fondness for military 
glory, however, had not declined like his master's, and the 
Rohillas, and other Afghan tribes in that vicinity, having made 
frequent irruptions into the province of Oude, of which he was 
Soubah, he conducted an army against that people, and was at 
first defeated ; but, by the permission of the emperor, having 
called in a body of 40,000 Mahrattas to his aid, he was eventually 
victorious, and revenged the injury by an indiscriminate mas- 
sacre of men, women, and children of Afghan extraction. He 



£A. D. 175a. 



continued for some time in Oude, settling the distracted affairs of 
that province, and then returned to Delhi, followed by the mer- 
cenary Mahratta army, clamorous for their arrears, and eager, if 
refused, to repay themselves by the plunder of the environs of 
that opulent city. The treasury was empty, and the danger 
imminent. In this extremity, Gazi o'deen, who had in his 
public station accumulated an immense fortune, offered to dis- 
charge their arrears, which amounted to no less a sum than fifty 
lacks of rupees, on condition that the emperor should issue fir- 
mauns expressly appointing him Soubah of the Deccan, in the 
room of his brother Nazir Jing, who had recently been assassi- 
nated on the field of battle, as before related.* The emperor's 
acquiescence was joyfully given, their demands were settled, and 
Gazi o'deen immediately commenced his march for the south, 
attended by these very Mahrattas, who were happy to enlist 
under any banners where a prospect of plunder was even 
distantly afforded. That they ever were from authority per- 
mitted to collect the choute, or engaged to fight under the royal 
standard, was perhaps the most unfortunate occurrence that ever 
befel this once mighty empire ; which was now torn asunder by 
tribes of freebooters of every denomination, Jauts, Rajapouts, 
Rohillas, Seiks, and the still more ferocious barbarians of Af- 
ghanistan. 

In that quarter the intrepid Munnoo had, for a long time, at the 
head of the best disciplined troops of Hindostan, resisted all the 
force of Abdallah, or, to use a more familiar term, the Abdallees ; 
for Jbdaly whence his name is derived, is only the general name 
of the tribe to which the sovereign of Candahar belonged. The 
contests between the two powers were long and arduous ; at- 
tended with great expenditure of blood and treasure, which 

* Sec Vol. II. p. 308. 



A. D. 1753-3 



t 577 3 



Ahmed could immediately supply from his inexhaustible re- 
sources at hand, but which, amidst the supineness and dissipation 
of the court of Delhi, could not, in an equally adequate, or rapid 
degree, be conveyed to Munnoo. The greatest part of Lahore 
was in consequence lost ; and to complete the disaster, Munnoo 
himself, the valiant governor of that province, about this time 
( 1 753)' died suddenly by a fall from his horse. Abdallah, imme- 
diately advancing with his army, seized on the capital of that 
province, and placed his son, then an infant, in the government 
of that city, under the tuition of an experienced omrah, fully 
determined, in the following year, to push on with his innumer- 
able legions to the gates of Delhi. 

The importance of the family of the Nizam, at this period of 
the empire, renders any apology for alluding to the individuals 
of it unnecessary. It has been already stated, that Ghazi o'deen, 
the late captain-general, after discharging the arrears due from 
the Vizier to the Mahrattas, had departed for the Deccan, aided 
by a formidable body of that nation, to take possession of his 
government, usurped by Salabad-Jing, assisted by the French, 
after the murder of the unfortunate Nazir Jing. Having entered 
Aurungabad at the head of 150,000 men, and being well ac- 
quainted with the power and influence of the French in his 
brother's army, he from thence dispatched emissaries with splen- 
did offers of money and titles to M. Dupleix at Pondicherry, if 
he would recall M. Bussy and his army from the service of 
Salabad-Jing, in which project he would probably have bjen suc- 
cessful had not the latter took an effectual method to prevent it, 
by causing his brother to be poisoned, and that by the agency 
of his mother, then at Aurungabad, who sent him a plate of 
victuals prepared, as she told him, by her own hands. To such 
dreadful extremes in eastern countries docs ambition drive her 

4 E 



C 578 3 



£A. D. 1753. 



infuriated votaries ! The Mahratta army immediately dispersed, 
and Salabad Jing continued in the usurped sovereignty of Dec- 
can, without any dread of the threatened vengeance of the court 
of Delhi, to the consideration of whose conduct we are recalled 
by the consequences of the calamitous event just recited. 

We are now to introduce upon the theatre of affairs, one of 
the most extraordinary characters that ever existed, a youth of 
fifteen, the only son of the abovementioned Ghazi o'deen, and on 
whom the title and honours of his father were immediately con- 
ferred by the emperor, at the earnest solicitation of Seffdar Jung, 
the vizier, who admired his great talents, and who was too soon 
to become the victim of them. The young Ghazi, at that early 
age, possessed all the high accomplishments, abilities, and vices 
of his father and grandfather. In him, the most open unreserved 
manners were combined with the deepest dissimulation ; un- 
bounded generosity, and the most undaunted fortitude, with the 
basest treachery and ingratitude ; he had a head to project, a 
genius to advance, and, if necessary, a hand to execute the most 
daring and criminal designs. He seemed as if born to control 
thrones, and direct empires ; and he mounted at once to the pin- 
nacle of ambition and grandeur, in assuming the reins of that of 
Hindostan. This chosen youth, on being appointed by the em- 
peror captain-general, as before observed, at the intercession of 
Seffdar Jung, immediately used all his influence with his sove- 
reign to get his patron removed from that high office, and suc- 
ceeded. But Seffdar Jung was himself too high-spirited to submit 
quietly to this disgrace, and flew into open rebellion. He en- 
gaged in his service an army of Jauts under their prince Suraje 
Mull, and advancing at their head to Delhi, shut up the emperor 
and his juvenile captain-general within its walls. Ghazi defended 
the city with great bravery for three months, at the end of which 



A. D. 17530 C 579 J 

period he issued forth, engaged, and completely routed the ejected 
Vizier, who fled precipitately to his government of Oude, leaving 
Suraje Mull and his Jauts to sustain the whole weight of the im- 
perial vengeance. To chastise that turbulent race, Akebut Mah- 
mud, an experienced general, was dispatched at the head of a 
considerable army ; but by avoiding a general engagement, and 
retiring into and under the protection of their numerous forts, 
they found means to baffle all his efforts to subdue them. 

In the mean time the power of young Ghazi, in consequence 
of his late success, became almost unlimited at the court of Delhi, 
especially as the emperor, satisfied with the laurels which he 
had obtained when he drove back the Abdallees from the western 
frontier, remained continually plunged in intemperance, and left 
every thing at his disposal. He was not, however, without a rival 
almost as young, as ardent, and as ambitious as himself. This 
rival was the new Vizier, the youngest son of the celebrated 
Kammir o'deen, the favourite of the late, as the son was of the 
present emperor, and he burned with secret envy at beholding 
• the almost sovereign authority with which the latter was invested. 
He took every opportunity of calumniating him to the emperor, 
and filled the royal breast with the darkest suspicions of the man 
whom he had thus imprudently exalted to premature honours. 
An opportunity soon offered of removing his hated rival from his 
presence, and, as lie fondly hoped, for ever ! 

No very signal success had crowned the imperial army em- 
ployed against the Jauts, who were now become a formidable 
people, especially when their forces were united in the field, and 
they had gradually obtained possession of the country extending 
for many miles round Agra, although they were not yet masters 
of that capital. The great body of the Mogul army being en- 
gaged at a distance in Lahore, watching the Abdallees, the forces 



C 5803 



[A. D. 1753 



under Akebut were by no means adequate to their complete re- 
duction, and great bodies now began to appear in the field, and 
seemed to bid the Mogul general defiance. To a foe so near, so 
menacing, and so dangerous, it was necessary to give an imme- 
diate and decisive check ; in this extremity, Ghazi proposed to 
the emperor to call in the assistance of the Mahrattas, at that 
time in the vicinity of Agra, and offered to lead them in person 
against the insulting foe. The advice, however fatal in its con- 
sequences to the empire, was acquiesced in, and the offer of 
Ghazi's personal services was accepted with insidious joy by 
Ahmed and his jealous Vizier. The Mahrattas, at that time in high 
hostility with the Jauts, readily consented to the terms proposed ; 
and 40,000 of that nation, under their generals Mulhar and 
Ragonaut Row, but subject to the control of Ghazi, advancing 
into that beautiful country, scattered death and desolation where- 
soever they came ; discomfiting whatever bodies of troops ap- 
peared in arms to oppose them, and driving the rest back into 
their strong forts. To the attack of those forts, artillery became 
necessary, and with that article the Mogul camp was but indiffe- 
rently provided. Ghazi immediately dispatched an officer to 
Delhi, with a request that the royal park of artillery might be 
forwarded to him without a moment's delay. This request, to 
his astonishment, was peremptorily refused, and the officer, in 
addition, reported that all Delhi was flying to arms, as if an 
enemy were at the gates. 

Shortly after an intercepted letter, written by the emperor 
himself, and intended for Suraje Mull, unravelled the whole 
mystery, and opened to him his alarming situation. In fact, 
during his absence, the implacable Vizier had too well succeeded 
in impressing the king's mind with ideas of the confirmed dis- 
loyalty of Ghazi. His rebellious designs, he affirmed, were glar- 



A. D. 1754.3 



E 581 3 



ingly evident throughout the whole of his conduct, both in the 
cabinet and the field. He represented his daring ambition, as 
aimed at the imperial throne itself ; " the Mahrattas were already 
at his nod ; and the royal artillery might soon be pointed against 
the castle of Delhi." The intercepted letter encouraged Suraje 
Mull to hold resolutely out to the last extremity ; it informed 
him that the imperial guard, with a numerous army, had taken 
the field, and that the emperor was approaching to attack the 
traitor in the rear, while at an appointed signal, the Jaut prince 
should issue from his strong forts, and attack him in front. On 
perusing these dispatches, the lofty soul of Ghazi was filled with 
indignation, and burned with a desire of revenge. He instantly 
raised the various sieges in which he was engaged, and with his 
whole army re-crossed the Jumna, determined to give battle to 
the king and vizier, who were leisurely marching down between 
the rivers in fancied security. Daring in design, and prompt in 
execution, Ghazi was not a person to rest satisfied with half 
measures. With the reign of the one, and the influence of the 
other, he saw that his own safety was incompatible, and he was 
firmly resolved, by desperate measures, to put a period to both. 
On receiving intelligence of his approach, the emperor halted at 
Sccundra, and by liberal promises and munificent offers, endea- 
voured to reclaim his rebel minister to a sense of duty. The only 
answer which Ghazi condescended to return, was the king's own 
letter to Suraje Mull, and a spirited remonstrance against his 
base ingratitude to a man, whose only crime was his being en- 
gaged in fighting the battles of the empire. He inveighed against 
the meanness that could listen to the perfidious insinuation of a 
sycophant, to his prejudice, and justified his being in arms against 
a prince, whose imbecility rendered him unworthy longer to- 
hold the reins of government. Both the king and the vizier were 



CA. D. 1755. 



thunder-struck at this bold strain of invective, and knowing 
themselves unable to cope with him in the field; unaided by the 
Jauts, retreated in haste to Delhi. They were, however, pur- 
sued by Ghazi with such celerity, that he gained possession of 
one of the gates which they had just passed, and the fugitives, re- 
tiring into the citadel, were there so closely invested by the rebel- 
lious omrah, that they were in a short time compelled to surrender. 
After upbraiding the emperor with his ingratitude, and the vizier 
with his rashness, he ordered the latter to immediate execution ; 
and committed Ahmed himself to the custody of an officer, on 
whose steady vigilance he could rely. The next day the eyes 
of the king were blinded with an iron heated red hot, which 
necessarily terminated his government, after a reign of seven 
years, only distinguished by a transient display of vigour and 
fortitude at its commencement. This calamitous event took place 
about the close of the year 1 755. 

l)9io9iib fofi'fi • l)dsfiis<rii j^or>fc*".M ' Ha.V^- J0#89lci 3.nJ aoy. hzpZw? 
AULUMGEER THE SECOND. 

After the atrocious act that consigned Ahmed Shah to blind- 
ness and oblivion, Ghazi o'deen raised to the vacant throne a 
grandson of Bahadur Shah, by the name and title of Aulumgeer 
the Second. He was immediately appointed vizier to the new 
emperor, and reigned with despotic sway both over him and the 
empire. Thus held in absolute bondage, and sensible of his 
chains, the weak monarch struggled in vain to get free from 
those manacles, which every effort to release himself only rivet- 
ted the closer. He never reflected, that the same power which 
exalted him to the imperial musnud, could, if so inclined, in an 
instant, hurry him back to that prison, in whose cheerless soli- 
tude he had already passed so many disconsolate years. As 
Ghazi was universally detested, a large party of omrahs sided 



A. D. 1755a 



C 583 3 



with the king, but being equally dreaded as detested, few oppor- 
tunities occurred of publicly evincing that rooted aversion which 
his tyrannical conduct had excited. All his measures, however, 
were secretly thwarted and undermined by the court and its 
sycophants; and many projects, that were even fraught with 
important benefit to the public, were relinquished, because they 
originated with him. Such an order of things could not last long. 
The secret cabals of his enemies, by no means escaped the pene- 
trating eyes of the sagacious young vizier, and he was silently 
meditating a dreadful retaliation, when the alarming intelligence 
received of the mighty preparations of Abdallah for the inva- 
sion of Hindustan, roused the court of Delhi from their culpable 
insensibility to the public dangers that threatened the empire, 
and for a time suspended the animosity of faction. Aulumgeer 
possessed neither capacity of mind, nor vigour of body for mili- 
tary affairs ; it was, therefore, determined that Ali Gohar, his 
eldest son, the present Shah Aulum, accompanied and directed 
by the vizier, should inarch with all the forces that could be raised 
to oppose the progress of that powerful chieftain. 

The treasury was exhausted by the unbounded profusion of 
the late and present emperor. With great difficulty an army of 
80,000 men was raised for the exped.tion ; but when they had 
advanced about forty miles beyond Sirhind, Abdailah was found 
to be too firmly established in his new conquests, to allow any 
ho cs of a successful attack by troops hastily raised and ill disci- 
plined, upon the vet >ran bands that h:id served under Nadir 
Shah. Tne whole result of the campaign was a treaty that only 
for a short lime retiftfeti the progress of Abdallah into Hindos- 
tan, and the solemnizing of a marriage contracted at a former 
period by Ghdftij Wfefc tne daughter of the deceased Munnoo. 
Ghazi well k..cw that, if defeated by Abdallah, his power and 



C 3 CA. D. 1756. 



influence were for ever gone. By dexterously warding off the 
blow, which was to subvert the empire, he saved himself also 
from destruction. 

On the return of the imperial army to Delhi, the conduct of 
the vizier, both to the emperor and the omrahs, was marked by 
more outrageous insolence than ever. He confined the former 
within the walls of the citadel, and he dispatched, by poison or the 
dagger, all his enemies among the latter. Never were so many 
crimes crowded into so short an interval. At length wearied out 
with his sufferings, and his crown having become a burthen to him, 
Aulumgeer adopted the desperate measure of privately inviting 
Abdallah to advance with his army towards Delhi, and release 
him from his prosecutor. A well-concerted plot was laid for his 
destruction, which, however, by his profound craft he evaded, al- 
though the empire sunk in the dreadful conflict. To the command 
of a Rohilla chief, named Nidjib Dowlah, originally patronized 
by Ghazi, but whom his arrogance had disgusted, was intrusted 
a large division of the imperial army, that marched out to give 
Abdallah battle. Ghazi himself commanded the remainder. In 
the mock encounter that followed, he was deserted by the Ro- 
hilla, and the greater part of the army, and thus fell into the 
hands of Abdallah, whom, however, he afterwards found means 
to propitiate, though he was for the present deprived of the post 
of vizier. 

The Afghan hordes being of a more ferocious disposition than 
the Persian troops of Nadir Shah, their irruption into the city of 
Delhi, which immediately took place, was attended by circum- 
stances proportionably more disgusting and barbarous. In the 
space of nearly twenty years, amidst all its distractions, that 
metropolis had in great part recovered from that ruinous cala- 
mity, and though its wealth in jewels was at this time far inferior, 



A. D. 1756.3 



C 585 J 



yet commerce and the residence of the court had caused it again 
to overflow with treasure, which those savages extorted from 
the inhabitants, by every mode of refined torture that ingenuity 
could devise. Not satisfied with plundering the living ; with 
robbing the mosques and the palaces of their gaudy spoil, they 
carried their depredations into the regions of the grave itself, 
and robbed the sepulchres of the emperors, and many pious 
saints, that had been held sacred for ages, of their gold and silver 
ornaments. For two months was the city subjected to these hor- 
rors, after which period the invader marched towards Agra, in 
order to punish and raise contributions among the Jauts, in which 
he was not altogether successful : for though he spread wide the 
scene of ravage and desolation through the open country, that 
people, for the most part, evaded his vengeance and extortions, 
by retiring to the strong holds, in which that district abounds. 
At Agra he was repulsed by the Mogul governor ; but he 
wreaked his indignation upon the city of Muttra, one of the most 
ancient and venerable seats of the Hindoo religion, and after 
sacking and plundering it, left it a heap of ruins. He had also 
dispatched Ghazi, whom, in spite of the emperor's remonstrances 
he had again raised to the Vizirat, with an army into Dooab, or 
the interamnian region, to collect the tributary sums due to the 
government from that country and Oude. The Soubahdar of 
Oudc, was that Sujah Dowlah, so well known to the English, 
who with the Rohillas, his allies, had already commenced his 
march for the frontiers, determined to oppose, if necessary, force 
by force. After some fruitless efforts to separate the united 
chiefs, and thinking himself not equal to their combined armies, 
the prudent Vizier compromised the business with them for a 
few lacks of rupees, and with these, and the spoils which he had 
otherwise procured, returned to Abdullah. 

4F 



C ] CA. D. 1757. 

That invader who acted, while he staid in Hindostan, in all 
respects as its absolute sovereign, having received intelligence 
of some incursions into his dominions from Western Persia, was 
now preparing for his return to Candahar. As a balance to the 
Vizier's power, whom he had exalted to that high station solely 
on account of his transcendant abilities, in consequence of the 
earnest supplication of the emperor, he appointed Nidjib al 
Dowlah prince of the Omrahs, with orders to protect the king 
against his machinations, and having celebrated his nuptials with 
a daughter of Mahommed Shah, immediately commenced his 
retreat. In his progress to Candahar, he left his son Timur 
Shah, who was about the same time married to a daughter of 
Shah Aulum, with a large army at Lahore, and by this double 
alliance, his future views upon the throne of Hindostan may be 
clearly discerned. 

The balance intended against the power of the Vizier, by the 
appointment of Nidjib al Dowlah to the high station of Ameer 
al Omrah, proved ineffectual towards restraining his arrogance 
and his cruelties, which were now carried to a greater height 
than ever. As, for supporting his usurped authority, it was 
necessary to keep in pay a considerable army of Mahrattas, and 
the treasury being drained, enormous sums were to be raised for 
its support, they could only be procured by the most oppressive 
measures from the toiling mechanic, by excessive burdens on 
commerce, and by confiscating the estates of the obnoxious 
nobility. Loud complaints and invectives resounded from every 
quarter, but there was no one to redress the grievance ; for the 
king, with his son Ali Gohar, groaned under the same bondage, 
and were kept state prisoners by this daring young ruffian, while 
Nidjib al Dowlah was compelled to consult his personal safety r 
by retiring to his jaghire at Secundra, in the Dooab. The young 



A. D. 1759.3 



C 587 3 



and spirited prince, after several attempts to make his escape, 
did indeed at length effect it, at the head of a chosen band de- 
voted to his service, by valiantly cutting a passage with his sabre 
through thousands of troops sent by Ghazi to blockade the 
palace, and endeavoured, when at liberty, to rouze against the 
traitor the various country powers ; but his deficiency in the great 
sinew of war, money, added to the terror of Ghazi's name, and 
his formidable Mahratta army, prevented any effectual inter- 
ference on their part. He resolved, therefore, to fly for pro- 
tection to Nidjib, at Secundra, who received him with respect, 
but at present could be of no essential service to the royal 
cause. 

In A. D. 1759, Abdallah, unsatiated with Indian spoil, and 
having settled the affairs of his own kingdom, again descended 
from the mountains of Afghanistan into the plains of Hindostan. 
He seemed to consider that devoted country, at once, as an inex- 
haustible source for recruiting his treasury, and as a field for the 
discipline of his hardy warriors. His present visit, however, was 
not wholly the effect of avarice, or ambition ; for the restless tribes 
of Mahrattas were now making rapid advances towards his do- 
minions on the eastern frontier : indeed about this time their 
armies were in motion in all quarters, and their aim seemed to 
be to exterminate the Mahommedan princes, and upon the ruin 
of their authority, to erect a sovereignty of their own. To 
oppose a power whose views upon that empire were so similar to 
those entertained by himself, and once more settle the distracted 
affairs of Delhi, concerning which he had regular intelligence from 
Lahore, doubtless accelerated his march eastward, which was 
at this time made with all the forces of his empire, and with 
energy mighty as the interests at stake. We must here for a 
.short interval, leave him pursuing his victorious career across 



C 538 3 



£A. D. 1759. 



the mountains, and driving his enemies before him in every en- 
gagement, to return, for the last time, to Ghazi, and the unfor- 
tunate monarch his prisoner. 

The situation of that minister was now desperate indeed I 
After having been so repeatedly pardoned and promoted ; having 
violated all confidence, and trampled on all gratitude, every hope 
of appeasing Abdallah must have vanished from his mind. He 
had long at an heavy expence maintained in his pay, as if for the 
security of the empire, but principally to promote his own ambi- 
tious projects, and to maintain his own usurped authority, a 
large body of Mahrattas, the decided enemies both of Abdallah 
and the Mogul dynasty. With these barbarous hordes he had 
inundated all the environs of Delhi ; with these he had driven 
Nidjib from its walls, and held in defiance the menacing Sou- 
bahs of Oude and Bengal. He suspected that Aulumgeer had 
again invited the Abdallees ; he knew that, by his emissaries, he 
had endeavoured to detach from his service the army which he 
had raised to defend the throne in every preceding extremity. 
He knew also that before the myriads of Abdallah, that army 
would be unable to stand. The dream of greatness was over, and 
he was resolved to terminate his sanguinary career, with a blow 
that should shake Hindostan to its center, and remind ungrateful 
monarchs of their doom. He resolved to murder the sovereign 
whom he had created, and to deprive Abdallah of, at least, half 
his promised spoil, by permitting his ferocious Mahrattas to 
ravage the capital, in which he had so long borne the chief 
sway. 

Among his other weaknesses Aulumgeer was addicted to 
superstition ; but it was an amiable weakness ; and it added 
greatly to the atrocity of the murder, that, during an act which 
strongly marked his piety, the crime was accomplished. Being 



A. D. 1759^ 



C 589 3 



informed that a fakeer, or Mahommedant saint, highly venera- 
ble on account of his religious attainments, had arrived at Delhi, 
he expressed an anxious wish to visit the holy man ; for saints 
in India disdain to visit even the palaces of kings. Every thing 
being previously prepared in the apartments of the pretended 
saint, as he slowly approached the reverend impostor, two 
assassins rushed from behind a screen, and with their scyme- 
tars divided his head from his body. The headless trunk was 
exposed two days on the sands of the Jumna, and then interred 
without regal honours. This event took place towards the close 
of 1759. The regicide then proceeded to the state prison of 
the princes of the house of Timur, and taking out thence a 
grandson of Kambuksh, the youngest son of Aurungzeb, placed 
him on the throne, with the title of Jehaun the Second ; but he 
is not reckoned among the number of emperors. The gates 
of the city were now opened to the Mahrattas, who renewed, 
with increased horrors within its walls, the dreadful work of 
devastation and death, and for many days continued their mer- 
ciless career of blood and plunder, till intelligence of the near 
approach of the Abdallees compelled them to depart. Ghazi 
himself, after having introduced them to the spoil, had for secu- 
rity retired, by that chief's permission, to a strong fortress of 
Suraje Mull, and there, whatever atrocities, in a less public 
character, he might afterwards commit, history loses sight of 
him. 

Abdallah found Delhi in a dreadful situation, from having 
been so long exposed to the desolating fury and pillage of the 
Mahrattas. His own exactions severely added to its misfortunes ; 
and so great were they, and so unparalleled the sufferings of 
the inhabitants that, in the paroxysm of despair, they flew to 
arms. More stern than Nadir, because exposed to more 



C 590 3 



CA. D. 1759. 



imminent danger than his predecessor, Abdallah gave orders 
for a general massacre, which lasted without intermission for 
seven days. At that period, when nearly a fourth part of the 
inhabitants had thus perished, and most of the public buildings 
were on fire, to add to the confusion, and increase the miseries 
of the wretched Delhians, immense bodies of Mahrattas, under 
Mulhar Row, had arrived in the environs, to share with Abdallah 
the spoils of the burning metropolis. Undaunted in danger, 
like his great example, after checking the ravages of the sword 
and the conflagration, he marched out of the city, and gave 
them battle. After a desperate conflict fought about two coss 
from Delhi, the Mahrattas were defeated, and pursued for 
many leagues with great slaughter. Their defeat, however, 
was only the awakening signal, the grand tocsin, for the assem- 
blage and union of their whole power, under all their chiefs, 
in order to crush the bold invader. This design they probably 
would have been able to accomplish, by cutting off* his supplies, 
and, by repeated assaults, wearying out and diminishing an army 
that was too remote from its resources to recruit itself, had 
not, at length, all the great Mahommedan powers of India 
also taken the alarm, and however varying their interest, or 
individually hostile to Abdallah, seen the urgent necessity 
of joining him, or being crushed themselves. The Mahomme- 
dan religion and government established in India for eight cen- 
turies, at an immense expenditure of blood and treasure, must be 
subverted, or the vast power of the Mahrattas be annihilated 
by one decisive blow. The circumstance of two such mighty 
potentates rushing to arms, exhibits a spectacle truly great ; 
but outraged humanity cannot contemplate it without horror ! 
While they are mutually preparing for the mighty conflict 
which is to decide the fate of India, it is necessary that we should 



A. D. 1759a 



C 59* 3 



for a short time, attend to the adventures of a personage of no 
small importance at the present moment, that Ali Gohar, who, 
we have seen, after valiantly cutting his way through the 
besieging army of Ghazi, retired to the jaghire of Nidjib al 
Dowlah, for protection from the rage of the blood-stained foe 
of his family. 

After staying some months with that protector, finding him 
unwilling, or unable, in a more public and decisive manner to 
espouse his cause, the royal exile, at the head of his few deter- 
mined adherents, faithful to him in every difficulty, and not, 
perhaps, uncheercd with hopes of the approaching dawn of 
better days, pursued his journey to Oude, where he was re- 
ceived by Sujah Dowlah with the greatest respect, and even 
with regal honours ; though that omrah also at present declined 
taking any active public part in his affairs. He presented him, 
however, with a handsome nuzzar of elephants, horses, and 
money. 

In the anxious and laudable desire to emancipate his royal 
parent from the tyranny of Ghazi, the prince next repaired to 
Allahabad, and there, in Mahommed Kuli Khan, its viceroy, he 
found an ardent and strenuous supporter. That enterprising 
chief, however, recommended, in the first instance, his seizing 
upon the rich provinces of Bahar and Bengal, with whose tribu- 
tarv wealth, so vast and so long owing, the}'' might be able to 
raise an army adequate to the great ohject in view. The pro- 
position was acceded to, and being afterwards imparted to Suph 
Dowlah, received his consent, accompanied with the promise of 
a considerable body of troops, in addition to those of Mahommed. 
Towards the close of the year 1758, the expedition, highly 
formidable to any troops but those with thorn they were to 
engage, commenced. Unfortunately for him, at this time the 



C 592 ] CA. D. 1759. 



English army under Colonel Clive, connected by the closest 
alliance with the government of Bengal, which had for some 
time, as we have before related, assumed independence,* pre- 
sented too firm a front to permit his eventual success, even with 
all his high and imperial claims. This is not the proper place 
to enter upon the particulars of that campaign. It will be suf- 
ficient at present to observe that, notwithstanding some partial 
triumphs in Bahar, in Bengal he was wholly unsuccessful ; and 
that after having surrendered himself to the victorious British 
army, and having solicited their military aid in his behalf without 
effect, as they deemed it not prudent at that time to interfere 
in his concerns, he once more retired to his protector at 
Oude. Intelligence, however, of the assassination of Aulum- 
geer having arrived during the expedition, he caused a throne 
to be erected, which he publicly ascended, and was pro- 
claimed emperor at Patna. He ever afterwards acted, and was 
addressed in that capacity. One of the first acts of his new 
authority was the appointment of Sujah Dowlah to be per- 
petual vizier of the empire, a situation equally gratifying to the 
ambition of the one, and beneficial to the interests of the other. 
He resolutely, however, refused to accept the pressing invitation 
which, about this period, came from Abdallah, under that chiefs 
auspices publicly to assume the diadem at Delhi. His spirit at 
this time seemed too great to owe the crown of Hindostan to 
any other source than his high birth, and the exertion of his own 
valour. 

The grand conflict, as yet unrivalled in the history of India, 
in respect to the number and power of the combatants, and 
which was to consign its throne to a Mahommedan, or native 
power, was now rapidly approaching. After his late triumph 

* Under Allaverdy Khan. See Vol. II. p. 341. 



A. D. 1760.3 



C 593 3 



and pursuit of the Mahratta army, Abdallah had returned to 
Delhi, and releasing from the weight of his regal cares the 
sceptered pageant raised to the throne by Ghazi, by consigning 
him to his ancient abode, the state-prison of his family, dispatched 
thence the invitation to Shah Aulum, which we have noticed, pub- 
licly to ascend the throne of his ancestors at that capital ; but 
which under such ill-omened auspices, that prudent prince de- 
clined. The Mahratta armies under all their most famous chiefs, 
but subject to the supreme controul of Suddasheo, otherwise the 
Bhow, were now rolling in a vast body towards Delhi ; in their 
progress they summoned the Jaut rajah to join them. Suraje 
Mull, although a Hindoo, yet jealous of the Mahratta power, at 
first hesitated ; but on their threatening to ravage his country 
with fire and sword, and actually commencing those devastations, 
he reluctantly joined them with 50,000 of his troops. With this 
addition, their force amounted to 200,000 men, for the most part 
cavalry. On the near approach of this enormous mass to Delhi, 
Abdallah thought it prudent to evacuate that city, and retired 
across the Jumna, to a country more open for the conveyance of 
supplies to his army, and more practicable for his junction with 
the Mahommedan forces, which he expected from the north and 
cast of Delhi. Among these were the Rohillas, the troops of 
Sujah Dowlah, Ahmed Khan Bunguish, the Patau chief of Douab, 
and other mussulman princes, neighbouring on the Ganges, who 
had been long subject to the depredations of the Mahrattas. 

The Mahratta general soon after advanced, and took possession 
of the imperial city, in which but a slender garrison had been left 
by Abdallah, and which was again subjected to all the horrors of 
former devastation, with great aggravation. The Bhow himself 
was as mean as he was avaricious, and amidst his other enormi- 
ties, tore down the deling of the grand hall of audience, which 

4 G 



C m 3 



£A. D. 1760, 



was of massy silver, and sent it to the mint, with all the utensils, 
as chairs, tables, of that precious metal, which after such repeated 
spoliation yet remained in that once august abode. All the 
branches of the royal family, as well as their dependants, were, 
also, meanly plundered of their property and jewels. But what 
pen can describe the unequalled sufferings of the poor Delhians 
themselves, in this last extremity of human wretchedness. After 
being stript of all their little remaining property, and even their 
very clothes, by a sordid foe, to whom no species of plunder 
came amiss, they were unmercifully scourged with whips by their 
insensible tormentors, and driven before them naked through the 
streets, a famished and frantic throng. Many perished under 
the hands of their oppressors, and many more rushed voluntarily 
upon that death which is the last refuge of agonizing humanity. 
Provisions at length totally failing, to avoid the fate of thousands 
daily falling around them, the merciless barbarians were com- 
pelled to quit the city, and immediately proceeded to Karnaul, 
where they intrenched themselves on the same ground, formerly 
occupied by Mahommed, while Abdallah wisely selected the more 
fortunate situation of Nadir Shah. Here both armies lay in their 
intrenchments several days, in dreadful preparation, during 
which, by the mediation of Sujah Dowlah, some overtures were 
made for peace, but ineffectually. Their mutual differences had 
risen too high to admit of compromise ; and the demands on 
either side were too extravagant to be complied with. 

The whole surrounding country had been so recently and 
utterly exhausted by the large armies, of whose contests it had 
been the fatal aceldama, that provisions adequate to the support 
of such immense bodies of troops, were obliged to be brought 
from very distant quarters, and the active Abdallee cavalry had 
contrived to cut off several large convoys bearing provisions tq 



A. D. 1761.3 



the Mahratta camp, from Deccan, escorted by considerable 
bodies of troops, while his own was amply supplied by the Ro- 
hillas, and his Mahommedan allies on the banks of the Ganges. 
At length the Mahrattas being reduced to the greatest streights, 
came to the resolution of giving battle to the enemy, and the 
whole army marched out of their entrenchments, and advanced 
towards the enemy's lines. The Abdallees also marched out 
with alacrity to meet them, and on the morning of the 14th 
January, 1761, the dreadful battle took place, about two coss 
distant from the camp of the Abdallees, by whom the attack was 
commenced with such irresistible impetuosity as prevented their 
making effectual use of the formidable train of artillery which 
was drawn out in their front. The dreadful concussion was felt 
through the whole extent of their line. The Mahrattas, how- 
ever, fully aware of their desperate situation, that if death threa- 
tened before, famine hovered behind, and that their sabres alone 
must cut their way to safety and to glory, fought for a long 
time with obstinate bravery, and drove the Abdallees back 
almost to their camp ; but at this moment of apparent tri- 
umph a cannon ball struck off the head of the Bhow ; the Jauts, 
who had never heartily joined in their cause, deserted them in 
a body ; and Sujah Dowlah, Ahmed Khan Bunguish, and the 
other Mahommedan allies pouring down with all their troops on 
their exposed flank, compelled the great body of them to give 
way ; though in various divisions of that vast army the most 
heroic deeds were achieved, worthy of themselves and the object, 
an imperial throne, for which they contended. This is demon- 
strated by the fact, that out of the numerous distinguished 
generals by whom that army was conducted to the field, scarcely 
one, except Mulhar Row, who fled upon the first charge, re* 
turned to his native country. The carnage that commenced 



C 3 



£A. D. 1761. 



after the battle was horrible, for no body was inclined to give 
quarter to them, whose unrelenting rage spared no body ; and 
wheresoever they were pursued in their flight among the towns 
and villages, they were universally massacred. 50,000 are said to 
have fallen in the action, and 30,000 more during the pursuit, 
which lasted three days, the whole line of their flight being 
stained with blood. With respect to the plunder taken in the 
Mahratta camp, it exceeded all calculation, comprising their 
whole artillery, tents, elephants, horses, camels, the treasure 
collected in their progress from Deccan, and the still more enor- 
mous sums extorted from the miserable Delhians. 

To that ill-fated city, after the pursuit, Abdallah immediately 
repaired, and in imperial pomp received the congratulations of 
all the great Mussulman lords, his allies, on the utter subversion 
of the power of the implacable enemies of their religion and 
government, the Mahrattas. The empire of Timur was now his 
own, but he seemed inclined to permit the existing branch of 
that dynasty to enjoy the throne as his deputies, paying him a 
large annual tribute ; and he not only dispatched heralds with 
renewed invitations to Shah Aulum to return to Delhi, but placed 
on it his son Jewan Bukht, as regent, till his father should re- 
turn from Bengal, where he was engaged in new schemes of 
conquest. On Sujah Dowlah, by whose intrepid valour, exerted 
at a most critical moment, principally, the victory was gained, he 
bestowed magnificent presents, and confirmed him in the ex- 
alted post of perpetual Vizier of the empire. After staying some 
time there to settle, on the best basis possible, the distracted 
affairs of the country, he appointed Nidjib al Dowlah, governor 
of the city, and guardian of the royal family, and returned about 
the close of the year 1761 , to Candahar ; nor from that period till 
his death, which happened in 1773, owing to distractions nearer 



A. D. 1762.] 



C 597 3 



home, and the firm barrier presented to his farther progress 
by the Seiks, was the capital cursed with another visit from that 
scourge of Hindostan. 

SHAH AULUM. 

We are now arrived at that distressing part of the Mogul his- 
tory which exhibits the singular phenomenon of an emperor 
without an empire, and that emperor himself residing many 
years during the early part of his reign a voluntary exile from 
his capital in an obscure corner of his nominal dominions, and a 
pensioner on the bounty of a foreign power. Although the detail 
of these matters more properly belongs to the history of the 
English successes in India than to the General History, it will be 
necessary to present the reader with a summary statement of facts 
that led to such an extraordinary predicament in one of the 
princes of Timur's family. 

The first attempt of Shah Aulum to possess himself of Bahar 
and Bengal, or rather of their wealth, by which be hoped to re- 
instate himself in splendour at Delhi, has been already mentioned 
as wholly unsuccessful. On the return of Sujah Dowlah to Oude in 
1 762, loaded with honours, and flushed with recent victory, with 
what ever awe the British character might have before inspired 
him, that awe was now in a great degree effaced, and under the 
sanction of the imperial name and imperial banners he hoped 
with his mighty armies to overwhelm them as he had over- 
whelmed the myriad foe at Paniput. The expulsion of Meer 
Cossim from the Nabobship of Bengal was the ostensible reason 
alleged by the Vizier for this unprovoked attack upon them. 
To him, Cossim, after the inhuman massacre in cold blood 
of the English gentlemen at Patna,* had fled with the remnant 

• See an account of this sanguinary affair in Vansittart's " Bengal." Vol. III. 
P- 375- 



of his army, and by him was for a time protected, but afterwards 
plundered and deserted. Immense preparations were made for 
an expedition which was to insure to him the sovereignty of 
Bahar and Bengal, and expel the English from the Indian 
shores for ever. Early in 1764, those mighty preparations being 
complete, the armies of the two soubahs commenced their march 
southward. The respectable native historian of Bengal, Gholam 
Hossain, describing the progress of the march, mentions their 
numbers as exceeding calculation, covering the country as far as 
the eye could reach ; but from the ignorance of the generals, and 
want of discipline, murdering one another. It was not an army, 
but rather a moving nation.* With this undisciplined rabble, 
and with Clive's victory, at Plassey, fresh in his memory, *did 
Sujah Dowlah hope to conquer a British army ! 

Among that rabble, however, were doubtless intermingled 
many battalions of the Rohilla and Mogul cavalry, that fought so 
valiantly against the Mahratta host ; by some of his more expe- 
rienced generals he was strenuously advised from the immense 
mass in motion to select those squadrons, and with those alone, 
and his artillery, which was numerous and well served, to advance 
against the foe ; but Sujah Dowlah despised his enemy too much 
to take their advice, and entered Bahar at the head of this disor- 
derly band, " spreading desolation," says Hossain, <c for miles 
around their line of march. "-f The English army under Major 
Carnac, greatly diminished in numbers, and worn down with ex- 
cessive fatigue during the late arduous campaign, in which Meer 
Cossim had been driven before them through a great part of 
Bengal and Bahar, and also not a little alarmed at the approach 
of this new and formidable foe — thought it prudent now to fall 

* Gholam Hossain translated by Captain Scott, p. 437. 
i Gholam Hossain, p. 432, 



A. D. 1764.]] 



E 599 3 



back from Buxar to Patna, near which city, finding themselves 
unable to keep the field against such an immense superiority, 
they threw up intrenchments. Inspired with new confidence by 
their retreat, the allies kept up a vigorous pursuit, and having 
arrived at Phulvvaurree, about four miles distant from Patna, they 
there pitched their tents. Early on the following morning they 
advanced, and in the course of that day made three successive 
assaults on the English lines, which however, being defended 
with equal vigour and more dexterity than the attack was made, 
they were as many times repulsed with immense slaughter. 
Towards evening Sujah Dowlah with his discomfited army re- 
treated to their encampment at Phulwaurree, extremely indignant 
at the conduct of Meer Cossim, who had all the day kept at a 
very respectful distance from the scene of action, nor had even 
quitted his station when required by signals to advance.* The 
Vizier was himself wounded in the action, and was in consequence 
for some days confined to his tent. On his recovery he attempted 
nothing decisive, but encamped nearer to the south of the city, 
and contented himself with occasionally parading before the 
English lines in all the pomp of Asiatic military splendour. 
After a month had thus elapsed in inactivity, as the season of 
the rains was rapidly approaching, this vain glorious chief re- 
treated to Buxar, where he continued, intending to return to 
the attack of Patna, when the wet season should be over. 

During all this time Shah Aulum was treated with great 
neglect and indifference by the arrogant Vizier ; in short, as the 
mere imperial pageant of his ambitious projects. Sick of such 
empty homage, and such lukewarm friendship, lie became impa- 
tient to throw himself upon the generosity of the British com- 
mander. He even sent a message to that purport by our author, 

• Gholam Hossain, p. 432. 



t 600 3 



CA. D. 17%. 



Gholam Hossain, who was upon the spot, and in his suit ; but 
Major Carnac respectfully replied, " that his majesty was not 
then in a situation to act from himself, and that therefore the 
English could enter into no negociation with him." Neither was 
his conduct to Meer Cossim marked with any more feeling or 
respect : he had agreed to pay the Vizier eleven lacks of rupees 
monthly during the war, but that war becoming greatly pro- 
tracted, the Vizier thought proper to anticipate payment, and on 
some trivial pretence confined Meer Cossim, and seized upon all 
his property, which was immense ; he being supposed to have 
carried out of Bengal the amount of five millions, in gold and 
jewels. The day of severe retribution, however, was at hand, 
when he himself was doomed to become an abject dependent 
upon the bounty of others ! 

The rains being at length over, Colonel Hector Munro, who 
had superseded Major Carnac, and brought a great accession of 
strength to the army, not only in point of numbers, but of vigo- 
rous discipline, which it also wanted, commenced his march for 
Buxar, where the enemy in their turn had strongly intrenched 
themselves. Buxar is situated on the river Carumnassa, on the 
frontiers of Bahar, 100 miles above Patna. On receiving this in- 
telligence Sujah Dowlah sent a large detachment of Mogul 
cavalry to harass his line of march ; but the English army was 
not to be retarded or dismayed. They had with them only ten 
days provision, and they had resolved in that space to conquer or 
die. The Viziers troops, added to those of Cossim and the em- 
peror, composed an army of 50,000 men ; that of the English 
scarcely amounted to 5000 men, of which 1200 were Europeans. 

On his arrival at Buxar, Colonel Munro encamped on the 
borders of a morass, which now only separated the hostile 
armies. Two days they remained inactive ; on the third the 



A. D. 1764.3 



[ 601 ] 



Vizier changing his resolution of avoiding a general engagement, 
marched out of his intrenchments at the head of the Mogul cavalry, 
and took his station at some distance on the right of the English 
army. His minister, Beny Bahadur, occupied a ruined village on 
the bank of the Ganges, on their left. Eight battalions of sepoys, 
dressed and disciplined by Cossim in the European manner, with 
a numerous train of artillery, formed the front line, supported 
in the rear by a large body of cavalry. A heavy fire of cannon 
and musquetry immediately commenced, and was kept up for a 
long period, and with great spirit on both sides. The Vizier, in 
the mean time, pouring down with his cavalry, harassed the 
British in flank, and the Duranny horse at one time penetrated 
the line of major Munro's cavalry, and threw them into mo- 
mentary disorder ; but all was quickly restored by the continued* 
well-directed, redoubled fire of the English artillery, which 
mowed down whole squadrons, and overwhelmed horse and 
infantry with promiscuous destruction. In the height and ardour 
of the conflict, Munro, calm and collected, detached a strong 
body with a view to dislodge Beny Bahadur from the village on 
the left, which was happily effected, and the victorious squadron 
impetuously rushing forward, entered, and plundered, the camp 
of the Vizier, which threw the whole field into irretrievable con- 
fusion, as the Duranny and other mercenary troops, despairing 
of victory, now pressed forwards with equal eagerness to partake 
of the spoil, and repay themselves by plundering the rich tents 
and baggage of their employer. The heroes, however, who had 
so arduously fought on that day, soon arrived to claim the just re- 
ward of triumphant valour, and the barbarous hordes quickly dis- 
appeared. In the general flight that now took place, SujahDowlah, 
left almost alone by his perfidious auxiliaries, was reluctantly 
compelled to follow the route of his retreating army, nor did he 

4 II 



[A. D. 1764. 



think himself in perfect security till with a few followers he ar- 
rived at Allahabad. This celebrated battle, decisive of the claims of 
Cossim to Bengal, and of the power of the native princes to con- 
tend with European armies, took place in October 1764 : 6,000 of 
the enemy were left dead on the spot, and 130 pieces of cannon, 
with a vast quantity of military stores were taken on the field. 
In the intrenched camp, notwithstanding the depredations made 
by those Afghan marauders, still an immense booty remained to 
the victors in money, bullion, jewels, and every species of valu- 
able property, for, according to our author, " the cantonments 
resembled a populous city rather than a camp/'* 

The emperor, with this fresh proof of the invincibility of the 
English before him, and being once more the master of his own 
actions, again applied to the British general for that protection 
which it was now thought proper to grant him. He was accord- 
ingly received in the British camp with the honours due to his 
high rank, and attended Colonel Munro to Benares, where a 
handsome stipend was allowed for his maintenance till the plea- 
sure of the governor and council at Calcutta could be known 
concerning his future disposal. In the mean time the war with 
Sujah Dowlah was vigorously prosecuted, and with such unva- 
ried success, that after having in vain called to his aid Rohillas 
and Mahrattas, the warriors on the Ganges, and the chiefs on 
the Jumna, he found himself stript of all his dominions, and was, 
in his turn, ultimately compelled to throw himself on the cle- 
mency of the victors. General Carnac, having resumed the 
supreme command, received the fallen chief with respect ; and in 
the end he was, from motives of sound policy, restored to all his 
territories, except the provinces of Corah and Allahabad, which, 
with a revenue of sa lacks, or 220,000k were conferred on the 

* Golam Hossain, p. 442. 



A. D. 1765.] 



C G°3 3 



Mogul, and the castle of the latter place assigned him as a suit- 
able residence. In addition to this allowance, on his majesty's 
issuing firmauns, granting, in perpetuity, to the Company, the 
office of Duanny, or administration of the revenues of Bengal, 
Bahar, and Orissa, the British governour, Lord Clive, recently 
returned to India, engaged to pay into the royal treasury, as a 
kind of quit rent out of the revenues of Bengal, 26 lacks, or 
a(x>,oool. more, making a clear annual income of nearly half a 
million sterling ; an income amply adequate, not only to his 
necessities, but to the maintenance of some degree of regal 
splendour. 

While, however, the emperor was thus liberally provided for, 
it cannot be denied but that the Company, in return, obtained 
essential advantages, which placed them, as foreigners, in a new 
and enviable situation ; for they were by these firmauns, and 
that grant, constituted an efficient, permanent part of the Mogul 
empire, with the sovereign's authority, added to their own, for 
the accomplishment of all reasonable purposes of power, and 
aggrandisement, together with a clear annual revenue of a mil- 
lion and an half sterling, after all the charges of the civil and 
military establishment were paid. Under the protection of the 
English, we shall at present leave Shah Aulum, and return to the 
administration of affairs at Delhi, under his son, and Nidjib al 
Dowlah. 

To that capital, and a small district adjoining to it, on each side 
of the Jumna, were the once mighty and extensive domains of 
the Mogul sovereign reduced; and even that wretched pittance 
of territory, on the departure of Abdullah, the rapacious Jauts, 
the avowed enemies of the Rohilla minister, endeavoured to 
wrest from his grasp. The intrepid minister, with a far inferior 
force, took the field, but made amends by his skill and address, 



t 604 j [A. D. 1767. 



.for what he wanted in point of number. Confiding in their 
numbers, unimpaired by the recent battle from which we have 
seen they early and prudently receded, the chiefs of that nation, 
in vain assurance of victory, amidst the toil of arms occasionally 
indulged in the sports of the field. This culpable negligence 
passed not unobserved by Nidjib ai Dowlah, who, by his spies, 
was fully acquainted with whatever was transacted in the hostile 
camp. Having, by this means, gained intelligence of a large 
hunting party, in which Suraje Mull and his principal generals 
were to be engaged on a particular day, he contrived on that 
very day to dispatch a resolute body of 500 horse, under a com- 
mander of approved valour, to intercept them, while he himself 
with the main body of his troops, rushed on the Jaut army, 
utterly unprepared, and deprived of the advantage of its most 
skilful generals. In both cases the well-concerted project was 
crowned with complete success. After a desperate defence, 
Suraje Mull and his chiefs (about 300 in number) were cut off 
to a man, and the head of Suraje Mull being borne aloft on a 
spear, and exhibited to his army, they were struck with fear and 
horror at the sight ; and after a feeble resistance, fled in every 
direction. They were pursued by the Moguls to a great distance, 
and with immense slaughter, after which the victors returned in 
triumph to Delhi, where the death of the restless and turbulent 
Suraje Mull seemed to promise them a long and undisturbed 
repose. 

It proved, however, but of short duration, for the rajah's son, 
Jowahir Mull, being determined to revenge his father's death, and 
having in addition to his own troops, hired a body of 20,000 
Mahrattas, under Mulhar Row, marched at the head of this 
formidable army to Delhi, to which city he laid close siege for 
three months, Nidjib being utterly unable to cope with such an 



A. D. 1770.] 



accumulation of force. Being reduced, at length, to great distress, 
and well knowing the mercenary nature of the Mahratta chiefs, 
he contrived by a large present, to bring Mulhar Row over to 
his interests, and the Jauts finding themselves betrayed by their 
venal allies, were ultimately compelled to agree to conditions 
very ill calculated to gratify their high-flown ideas of conquest 
and vengeance, and retired humiliated and disgusted to their own 
country. Repeated attacks, however, upon the capital, but of 
minor importance, continued, afterwards, to be made both by 
this people and the Seiks, but they were all repulsed or rendered 
nugatory by the political address of this able and upright states- 
man, who having discharged with honour both the duties of pri- 
vate life, and those due to the royal family, entrusted to his care, 
expired of a complication of disorders, and deeply regretted by 
the inhabitants of Delhi, in 1770. His son, Zabetah Khan, suc- 
ceeded him in his important ministerial charge at Delhi ; but in 
that station he seems to have acted with neither the ability, inte- 
grity, or loyalty of his father. Indeed it will be presently seen, 
that under whatever obligations the family of Timur might lie 
to Nidjib al Dowlah, they were utterly annulled by the long 
series of insults and oppressions heaped upon them at a subse- 
quent period by this traitor, and his inhuman son, or rather mon- 
ster in human form, Gholaum Caudir. 

Deluded by a phantom of ideal grandeur, and impatient to be 
seated on the throne of his ancestors in the imperial city of Delhi, 
Shah Aulum, after a reluctant residence at Allahabad under the 
protection of the English., during five years, at length determined 
toexehang the comforts of independence for the splendid cares 
of a diadem, whose glory was faded, and whose authority was 
extinguished. Out of the liberal stipend settled upon him by the 
Company, Shah Aulum had been able to save a considerable 



£A. D. 1770. 



sum, and as the English continued firm in their resolution not to 
assist him in his ambitious projects, he turned his eyes towards 
the Mahrattas, who were by this time sufficiently recovered 
from their late disaster to engage in new schemes of conquest 
and aggrandizement, and in fact had at that moment an army 
encamped near Delhi, of 30,000 horse, waiting the current of 
events to be employed by one or other of the contending parties 
that harassed the empire. In this his rash determination to quit 
Allahabad, and to call in the aid of the Mahratta chiefs, he was 
encouraged and supported by his favourite minister, Hussam al 
Dowlah, a man of base and venal principles, and originally of 
mean extraction, but who had risen to distinction by becoming 
the pander of his master's illicit pleasures. This wretch, to 
whose pernicious councils the greater part of the errors of his 
early reign may be justly ascribed, hoped, by engaging the 
Mahrattas in the royal cause, and under their protection, to 
establish beyond controul his assumed power over the crown in 
that more enlarged sphere of action in which they possessed 
ample ability to place him, and his plans and councils were but 
too eagerly attended to on this and other occasions by his infa- 
tuated sovereign. The sum which was stipulated by this minister 
for their assistance in putting him in possession of Delhi was ten 
lacks of rupees, and this sum their rapacious chiefs insisted on 
being paid before hand, with which extraordinary demand, after 
much negotiation, the emperor thought proper to comply. His 
own army, although not numerous, was respectable, having been 
disciplined after the European manner, and commanded by 
English officers, who were, however, not permitted to accompany 
him beyond the frontiers of Corah. To that boundary the im- 
perial troops were attended by the Vizier and Sir Robert Barker, 
the English commander in chief, who, after repeating in vain his 



A. D. 1771.] 



C 607 ] 



own earnest request, and that of the presidency of Calcutta, that 
he would not depart from under their protection, took his final 
adieu. In this request the Vizier also joined, but insincerely, as 
he had secretly encouraged the departure of a prince, whose 
strict union with the English he considered as a bar to the suc- 
cess of projects to the accomplishment of which he wanted their 
assistance. 

The royal army now moved forward, and arriving at Ferokh- 
abad, the Nabob of which, Ahmed Khan Bunguish, was re- 
cently dead, Shah Aulum received from his son a tribute of five 
lacks, as a compensation for having confirmed to him by a royal 
firmaun those estates and that property of his deceased father, 
which, according to the laws of the Mogul empire, should have 
reverted to the crown. Thus was the royal treasury still far- 
ther replenished, and with invigorated confidence pressing for- 
ward towards the goal of his ambition, the emperor was in a few 
days joined by the Mahratta army, who, marching on with him 
to the capital without meeting any obstruction, entered it in 
grand procession, and completed their agreement by publicly en- 
throning him with great pomp on the musnud of Delhi. This 
joyful event took place in December 1771 ; a momentary exul- 
tation was diffused through that desolated metropolis, and the 
palace and court were illuminated by a transient ray of their an- 
cient splendour. 

Inflamed with resentment against Zabetah Khan, who, after his 
father's decease, was reported, not only to have treated the empe- 
ror, then resident at Allahabad, with marked disrespect, but, also 
to have violated the sanctity of the royal haram, by an intrigue 
with one of the princesses of the blood, with the aggrava- 
tion of refusing to remit to court the customary tribute of his dis- 
trict Shah Aulum, early in the following year, commenced 



C 608 3 



[A. D. 1771. 



his march at the head of 90,000 men, chiefly Mahratta cavalry, 
for the territories of that chief. They comprehended the pro- 
vince of Sehaurunpore, situated about 70 miles north-east of 
Delhi, in the upper parts of the Dooab, and in the vicinity of 
the Sewalick hills ; and were conferred on his father, in Jag- 
hire, in just reward for his long and meritorious services to 
the state. Zabetah Khan, conscious of guilt, and prejudging his 
fate, had made every preparation possible for resisting the Mogul 
forces ; he had placed numerous garrisons in all his forts, and 
commanded in the field a chosen body of veteran Rohillas ; but 
against the immense Mahratta army, now advancing to desolate 
his country, it was in his power to oppose no adequate force, and 
after several desperate and sanguinary conflicts, he was com- 
pelled to retire across the Ganges, and take refuge in the domi- 
nions of Sujah Dowlah, who, however in his heart he might 
detest the Rohillas, retained a still greater dread and abhorrence 
cf the Mahrattas. Well knowing how obnoxious he was to 
them from his conduct at Paniput, that omrah had advanced to 
Shahabad, the frontier city of his dominions, attended by Sir 
Robert Barker, and a considerable body of English troops, to 
watch their motions, and Colonel Champion was at Benares 
with a still larger body ; but the emperor restrained their impe- 
tuosity, and having plundered the country of every valuable it 
contained, the whole army returned to Delhi. On this occasion 
he experienced a glaring proof of the equity of his new allies, 
for out of the immense booty which they had obtained in this 
campaign, the Mahrattas scarcely allowed any part to the 
Moguls, with whom they had agreed to divide the spoil ; and 
having thus drained both the emperor and the country, marched 
off towards Agra to pass the rainy season, and raise fresh con- 
tributions among the Jauts. In the late expedition we first hear 



A. D. 1772.3 



C 6 °9 3 



of the distinguished bravery and ability of NudjuffKhan, general 
of the imperial troops, who will make a conspicuous figure in 
the annals of this reign, and whose exertions the emperor re- 
warded to the best of his abilities. 

To fill up the measure of their perfidy, after the rains, the 
Mahrattas returned to the neighbourhood of the capital, and 
having been secretly bribed by Zabetah Khan, dispatched mes- 
sengers to the court of Delhi, insisting on the restoration of that 
omrah to all the territories, for ejecting him from which they 
had been paid by the emperor. By their own peremptory 
mandates the newly appointed officers were removed frpm the 
districts near Delhi, in which they had been placed as the only 
means of paying the heavy arrears due to them ; and the 
wretched emperor, baffled, deluded, and assailed on every side 
by insult, and clamour, began heartily to wish himself once 
more under the protection of the English, in the enjoyment of an 
abridged but undisturbed domain, and a solid and certain, though 
inferior revenue. His treacherous minister, Husham, grown 
jealous of the rising influence of NudjuffKhan, is said privately 
to have instigated the Mahrattas to these outrages, in order to 
crush that chief, and obtain the disbanding of his army, on the 
plea that there was no money in the treasury to pay them. But 
neither would that loyal chief desert his sovereign in this extre- 
mity, nor would the affection of the soldiers suffer themselves to 
be torn from their general. On the contrary, on the near ap- 
proach of the enemy, he marched out at the head of all the 
troops which Delhi could supply, and offered them battle under 
the walls of the city. Scarcely had he formed his line, when 
the Mahrattas began the attack in their usual impetuous manner ; 
but they were repulsed by the steady bravery of the Moguls, 
and pursued to some distance. Their flight was probably 

4.1 



C 6io 3 



fA. D. 1772. 



designed, for the pursuit was fatal. Having advanced beyond 
the reach of the artillery of the city walls, which defended their 
rear, they were surrounded by so superior a body of Mahratta 
cavalry as insured victory to the latter. Still, however, the 
Delhians for a time resolutely conlinued the unequal contest. 
Many brave Moguls perished on that fatal day, and Nudjuff, in 
particular, seemed determined not to survive the disaster. While 
attempting to rush singly on the armed myriads of the foe, he 
was stopt by his friends, and carried by force into Delhi, where, 
however, neither his courage nor his patriotism could save him 
from the vindictive fury of his rival. 

The Mahrattas in a few days removed their camp close to the 
walls of the city, and their chiefs, Bissagee and Holkar, together 
with Zabetah Khan, insolently entered the palace on their ele- 
phants, as far as the hall of audience, a privilege allowed only to 
the royal family. The humiliated emperor descended from his 
throne to receive them, and was compelled to submit to all their 
arrogant demands. Zabetah Khan was completely restored to all 
the domains that had been wrested from him, and had also the 
rank of ameer al omrah bestowed upon him. The Jauts were 
also re-instated in many of their possessions which had been 
taken from them in the Dooab, and added to the royal domain ; 
and the Mahrattas appropriated to themselves other large tracts ; 
so that Delhi alone remained to the beggared monarch. Not con- 
tent, however, with degrading him thus far, they compelled him 
to violate every principle of honour and gratitude, by demanding 
of him a grant of the provinces of Corah and Allahabad, where 
he had been so long and so generously protected by the English. 
The English, however, on his retreat from those provinces, had 
seized upon them, as their property, not only by conquest, but 
by his former cession of them, and the Mahrattas stood too much 



A. D. 1773.3 



in awe of their power at present to attempt occupying them. 
NudjuffKhan, upon whom the minister laid all the blame of re- 
sistance, was fined in a heavy sum, and banished the royal pre- 
sence, and the city of Delhi, from which in three days he 
departed with all his adherents, but was immediately taken into 
the service of Holkar, who admired his bravery, at a large 
stipend. 

The Mahrattas shortly after commenced their march for 
Rohilcund, with intent to plunder that province ; but found there 
Sujah Dowlah, and an English brigade under Sir Robert Barker, 
to whom the Rohillas had applied for protection, ready to obstruct 
their progress. After committing their usual depredations on 
the northern and exposed districts of the province, awed by the 
approach of the British artillery, they retired precipitately across 
the Ganges, and bending their course towards the Jumna, before 
the end of the year returned to Deccan. On the retreat of the 
Mahrattas, NudjuffKhan, with his faithful battalions, joined the 
forces of Sujah Dowlah, who received him with the greatest 
kindness, and by his earnest recommendations, in addition to 
those of Sir Robert Barker, he was again restored to the empe- 
ror's favour, who had, in fact, parted with him only by compul- 
sion. He had long viewed with disgust the unprincipled conduct 
of his favourite minister, Husham, by whose predilection for the 
Mahrattas he had suffered such extreme affliction and debase- 
ment. The treasury was empty, and even the crown-jewels 
had been pledged to supply the pressing necessities of the court; 
the army also had become mutinous on account of the great 
arrears due to them. In this emergency, it seemed but just that 
the remedy should be derived from that quarter which was the 
source of these multiplied calamities. The minister was given 
up to the merited vengeance of his fortunate rival, and his 



C 61 CA. D. 1774. 

ill-gotten treasures were devoted to alleviate the public distresses. 
After keeping him confined, however, during two years, Nudjuff 
Khan had the generosity to set him at liberty, and allowed him 
a liberal pension for the remainder of his life. 

It is not without indignation that the historian of this period 
finds himself compelled to descend from recording the annals of 
a great dynasty, and become the degraded narrator of the ambi- 
tious struggles for power of their viziers and favourites. Sujah 
Dowlah had, however, now- become a personage of greater poli- 
tical consequence in the empire, possessed far more extensive 
territories, and a far more abundant revenue, than even Shah 
Aulum himself. His ambition, indeed, had expanded with his 
power ; and he now determined, with the aid of his allies, the 
English, to seize on the country of the Rohillas, and make that 
fine, fertile, and contiguous province, a constituent, unalienable 
portion of his own dominions. The ostensible plea, never wanted 
by a tyrant, when resolved on acts of aggression, for this glaring 
act of injustice, was the neglect of the chiefs of that nation to dis- 
charge the sum of 40 lacks, stipulated to be paid him for the 
defence of their country in the preceding year against the Mah- 
ratta hordes. The chiefs urged, in excuse, their utter inability 
at that time to discharge the demand, owing to the desolated 
state of a great part of their country ; but, whether that excuse 
were feigned or real, their ruin and expulsion were resolved upon 
by the inexorable Vizier. The presidency at Calcutta seem in this 
instance too easily to have listened to those delusive maxims of 
state policy, which removed for ever from the vicinity of their 
ally and of themselves, a dangerous and troublesome neighbour, 
of whom war was at once the employment and delight. The 
imbecile court of Delhi, soothed by the immediate payment of a 
large sum, and the promise of sharing in the plunder of Rohilcund, 



A. D. 1774J 



[6133 



prepared to take an active part in the iniquitous business ; and 
Nudjuff Khan, at that time successfully pursuing the war against 
the Jauts, in the vicinity of Agra, was recalled for that purpose, 
and ordered to unite his forces with those of the Vizier in its 
reduction. 

Early in the year 1774,, all his mighty preparations for the 
attack being ready, the Vizier took the field, and was soon 
joined by the British under Colonel Champion. Hafiz Rahmut, 
the most distinguished chief among the Rohillas, as well by 
power as talents, commanded the army of warriors who were 
now to contend against such great odds in military skill, for 
their independence, and even their very existence, as a nation. 
Their collective force amounted to 24,000 horse and foot, 4000 
rocket men, and 60 pieces of artillery.* They had the village 
of Cutterah on their rear, and a river that runs by that village 
covered their flank. Colonel Champion, by various skilful ma- 
noeuvres contrived to draw them from that advantageous situ- 
ation, and, by delaying the attack from day to day, caused the 
Rohilla general to relax somewhat in point of vigilance. On the 
22d of April the British commander made the necessary prepa- 
ration for action, and marching the following morning at two 
o'clock, without beat of drum, arrived about sun-rise within view 
of the Rohilla camp. The confusion of the Rohillas at the sudden 
appearance of so formidable an enemy, drawn up in battle array 
within cannon shot of their lines, may be conceived, but cannot 
be expressed. Hafiz Rahmut did the utmost in his power to 
rectify the error into which he had suffered himself to be betrayed. 
Immediately mounting his elephant, he sallied forth to recon- 
noitre their position, and on his return to camp, by his presence 
and authority, prevented the flight of a great part of the army, 

* Hamilton's History of the Rohilla Afghans, page 231. 



£A. D. 1774. 



though he was too late to arrest the progress of a body of in- 
fantry, about 4000 in number, who, at the first alarm of the near 
approach of the English, had retired panic-struck from the field. 
He recounted to them their former glories on the plains of Hin- 
dostan ; he reminded them that the enemy whom they had to 
oppose, though formidable in battle, were but usurpers like them- 
selves ; and he suceeded in inspiring them with an undaunted 
resolution to make, at least, one brave effort for the preser- 
vation of their independence. 

Hafiz himself took his post in the centre of the Afghan army, 
directly opposite to the British troops. Fizoola Khan, the next 
chief in power and consequence, assisted by others, subordinate 
to himself in rank, had the command of that division of their 
forces which fronted the troops led on by the Vizier, and his 
general Latifet. For intrepid personal exertion, however, by 
distinguished individuals, there was little opportunity, as the 
action principally consisted of a cannonade, supported with great 
vigour and spirit on both sides for two hours ; first at the dis- 
tance of 2000 yards, and then, as the armies gradually advanced 
towards each other, of 500 yards. Unfortunately for the Ro- 
hillas, most of their shot, from the bad quality of the powder 
used by them, fell short of the enemy, and their rockets, the in- 
vention of an age of barbarity, though thrown in prodigious 
numbers, did but little execution ; whilst a continued discharge 
of balls from the English artillery fell in torrents upon their 
centre, and made dreadful havoc among their unweildy columns. 
It was in vain that Hafiz Rahmut, descending from his elephant, 
and mounting a horse, repeatedly urged the cavalry to second 
him in a vigorous attack upon the flank of the enemy. The 
terror of the unremitting, well-directed fire of the English re- 
strained them from rushing, as they thought, upon certain 



A. D. 1774.] 



destruction ; and, in a short time, seeing their gallant general 
fall its victim, the centre immediately began to give way, and 
in a few minutes the whole broke and fled with precipitation. 
The right and left divisions, commanded by Fizoola Khan, and 
the other Rohilla chiefs, when they saw the centre broken and 
dispersed, and the allies advancing upon them, could not by all 
the upbraidings and intreaties of their leaders be induced to stand 
their ground, but fled off at full gallop, hurrying them reluctantly 
with them ; and leaving their camp (which was still standing) 
with all their baggage, artillery, and an immense booty, to the 
victors. Some bodies of the Vizier's cavalry were dispatched 
after the fugitives, but, mounted on fleet horses, they fled dif- 
ferent ways, and for the most part eluded their pursuers. The 
loss of the allies in this decisive action was inconsiderable, but 
that of the Afghans was not less than 2000 in killed and 
wounded, and the day was fatal to them in every respect, both 
individually, and as a nation. 

Although Fizoola Khan was utterly unable to rally his troops 
on the day of action, yet, after the panic was over, and when he 
had retired to the famous hill-fort of Lolldong, he was joined by 
very considerable bodies of his countrymen, who preferred the 
desperate chance of that resource to unconditional submission. 
Their increasing numbers and resolute resistance eventually 
obtained for them, through the mediation of the English com- 
mander, more favourable terms than they could otherwise have 
expected. Fizoola was left in full possession of Ram pore and its 
dependencies, yielding an annual revenue of more than fourteen 
lacks of rupees. The great body however of the Rohilla nation 
were compelled to retire to the west of the Ganges, and it was 
expressly stipulated that in future Fizoola's military establish- 
ment should never exceed 5000 men. 



C 616 3 



CA. D. 1775. 



In the mean time NudjufF Khan, in consequence of the agree- 
ment entered into by the emperor with Sujah Dowlah to assist 
him with a body of troops, had advanced to Bissoolee on the 
frontiers of Rohilcund, with 6000 men ; but arrived too late to 
have any share in the reduction of the Rohillas. Having fulfilled 
the compact, however, he claimed the stipulated reward of half the 
conquered country , which was refused by the Vizier, on the ground 
of his having borne no actual part in its subjugation. On re- 
ceiving, however, the imperial grants investing him with the 
sovereignty of the Rohilla territory, and Kinnoje, together with 
Corah and iUlahabad, of which he had already been put in pos- 
session by the English, he remitted a handsome present to court, 
and reinforced NudjufF, with some of his own troops to enable 
him to extend his conquests for the emperor nominally, but in 
reality for his own aggrandizement in the Dooab. Early in the 
following year (1775) in the midst of his triumphs and in the 
zenith of gratified ambition, expired Sujah Dowlah, and was suc- 
ceeded both in his government and the office of Vizier by his 
eldest son, Asoph al Dowlah. The peishcush offered on this 
occasion was suitable to his rank and dignity in the empire ; and 
thus was the royal treasury still farther enriched. 

Had his ministers been sincere or disinterested, Shah Aulum 
might now have enjoyed the throne with some share of its ancient 
dignity and lustre ; but the splendid victories about this time 
obtained by the arms of NudjufF Khan over the Jauts, and the 
rajahpout chiefs, induced him almost wholly to lay aside the 
obedience of a subject, and treat his sovereign with a con- 
temptuous arrogance, very unmerited by his imperial benefactor. 
He even refused to admit a royal officer to the command of the 
citadel of Agra, of which city and province, as well as the 
greatest part of Delhi, he had now become the entire master ; 



A. D. 1777.3 



E ^7 3 



having an army of his own, and residing at Agra in almost regal 
state. 

Next to Nudjuff himself, but far below him (in real dignity 
and consequence) the most prominent actor on the scene at this 
time was a crafty, venal, and unprincipled omrah named Mujud 
al Dovvlah, the emperor's minister for civil affairs, highly in 
favour with his master, but a determined enemy of that com- 
mander, and as far as he dared, a resolute opposer of his ambi- 
tious projects. The captain-general, however, superior in genius, 
and commanding the army, looked down with supreme contempt 
both on the king and his minister. After long abusing the em- 
peror's unlimited confidence, a circumstance arose which at once 
proved the deep duplicity of his heart, and his utter incapacity 
to conduct the affairs of a great empire. The Seiks, whose 
efforts to become an independent state in Lahore, during the 
reign of Bahadur Shah, have been already noticed,* and who 
during the late distractions of the empire had become extremely 
numerous and powerful, about this time made an irruption into 
the province of Delhi, and extended their devastations to the 
very shores of the Jumna. To obviate a danger so near and so 
alarming, and drive the marauders back into their own territories, 
an army of 20,000 men was immediately raised, and in the ab- 
sence of Nudjuff, Mujud al Dowlah, accompanied by one of the 
princes of the blood, was appointed to the command of it. It was 
attended by a formidable train of artillery, and was considered as 
a force perfectly adequate to the reduction of the enemy. 

The royal army having advanced as far as Carnaul, near that 
city fell in with the first detachment of Seiks, which, however, 
being very inferior in point of numbers avoided an engagement 
by proposals of submission, and bought their peace by a peishcush 

• Sec Chapter IV. page 511. 

4 K 



[A. D. xm. 



of three lacks, and the promise of an annual tribute. They were 
ordered to attend the march of the imperial troops, which now 
pursued its progress towards the Seik frontiers, and encamped 
before Puttiali, a town sixty coss north of the latter, strongly 
fortified, and commanded by a daring chief, named Amur Sing, 
who, having a numerous garrison, and abundance of provisions, 
was resolved to sustain a siege. To this resistance he was fur- 
ther instigated by intelligence of the approach of a large army 
of Seiks from Lahore, and by his emissaries he contrived to keep 
up a strict communication with the chieftains of the battalions of 
his countrymen, attendant in the train of the royal army. By 
this means he became intimately acquainted with all their plans 
and movements ; and receiving information of the venal cha- 
racter of the minister, he determined to turn it to his advantage, 
and, to carry on the delusion more effectually, affected to enter 
into a negociation with the latter, making him costly presents, 
and still more splendid promises. Commissioners were in conse- 
quence mutually appointed to settle the terms of surrender, but 
those on the part of Amur Sing were directed as much as pos- 
sible to procrastinate the final adjustment of matters. At length 
having received advice of the near approach of the army from 
Lahore, Amur Sing suddenly broke off the treaty, and, the Seik 
chieftains having previously lulled suspicion asleep in the mind 
of the minister, made their escape at the head of their troops, 
and joined their comrades. The shameful supineness and inaction 
of Mujud al Dowlah, during these transactions, corroborated the 
strong suspicions that prevailed throughout the army of his 
having been bribed to betray the royal cause ; but, whether or 
not he was guilty of actual collusion with the enemy, the result 
was the same. The immense host of Seiks that had marched 
from Lahore having been joined by the fugitive battalions, and 



A. D. 1780.3 



the troops that composed the garrison of Puttiali, formed together 
an irresistible army, and at the first onset the king's troops 
being overpowered by numbers, and the impetuosity of their 
attack, were thrown into irretrievable confusion, and every 
where dispersed and put to the rout. The powerful and well- 
directed fire of the artillery, stationed in the rear, alone saved 
them from total destruction. 

When intelligence of this fatal disaster reached Delhi, the whole 
city was thrown into the utmost consternation, and more espe- 
cially so when it was found that the triumphant enemy, following 
up their victory, had crossed the Jumna, and in their usual fero- 
cious manner were plundering the northern districts of the Dooab. 
Messengers were instantly dispatched by the terrified emperor 
to Nudjuflf Khan at Agra, urging the necessity of his immediate 
return with the army under his command to Delhi, and the 
summons was chearfully obeyed by a chief sufficiently confident 
in his own merit, and who had now a fair opportunity of crushing 
for ever his inveterate enemy. Mujud al Dowlah, in the mean 
time, with the remnant of his discomfited army, had returned to 
the capital amidst the execrations of the people, and in vain en- 
deavoured, by a multitude of fallacious statements, to justify 
himself to his insulted sovereign. That sovereign heard him 
with deep but silent indignation, as his palace was surrounded by 
his troops, and himself wholly at his mercy. On the approach 
of the captain-general to Delhi, Mujud al Dowlah, and one of 
the princes of the blood, under the pretence of doing him honour, 
were ordered to march a few coss to meet him, and conduct him 
to the presence. The minister, though warned by his friends 
that treachery was designed him, confidently marched out to 
meet his rival. On entering his tent, however, he was arrested, 
and sent back under a strong guard to Delhi ; and shortly after 



C 620 3 



[A. D. 1782. 



his whole fortune, amounting to twenty lacks of rupees was 
seized, and confiscated to the use of the captain-general. That 
distinguished chief himself was received by the emperor with 
marks of the highest respect, and under his direction early in the 
following year an army, ably commanded, was dispatched against 
the Seiks, who were defeated with great slaughter under the walls 
of Meerut, and the honour of the imperial army amply vindi- 
cated. From this period to his death, Nudjuff Khan resided 
constantly at Delhi, but became in his conduct more haughty and 
arrogant than ever, and left the humiliated emperor in the en- 
joyment of few privileges beyond that of granting empty titles, 
and the ratification of the acts of his imperious minister. From 
what he has just read, the reader will perceive that to enter, with 
any minuteness, into the transactions of this period of the Mogul 
annals would be only to record the rise and fall of ministers and 
favourites — to enumerate the struggles of grasping avarice and 
unprincipled ambition for the spoils of an expiring empire, and is 
unworthy the province of History. Let us hasten, therefore, to 
the close of this distressful scene, and contemplate, with due 
commiseration, the final catastrophe of this distinguished dynasty, 
and of this once potent empire. 

From this vassalage (for so it must be called) under Nudjuff 
Khan, the emperor was released by the death of that chief, which 
took place, from a complication of disorders, in April, 1782. 
For his exalted situation as ameer al omrah, and his extensive 
domains in the Dooab and the Jaut country, there arose many and 
powerful competitors. The principal of these were Affrasiab Khan, 
an adopted son of the deceased, and Mirza Shuflfee, the general, 
who had so successfully led the imperial army against the Seiks, 
and who was related, by blood, to that chief. Their contests, 
and those of their connections and dependents both in the male 



A. D. 1783.3 C 6a 1 J 



and female line, to secure the object of their ambition, were pro- 
tracted and violent, but I forbear the detail of them. Mirza 
Shuffee proved at length the successful candidate ; but he enjoyed 
his new-blown honours only for a short time, being stabbed in 
the field by Ismael Beg, a distinguished Mogul chief, of whom 
much will occur hereafter. Affrasiab now succeeded to the high 
station for which he had before ineffectually contended, but found 
himself unable to appease the rage of the refractory chiefs who 
had devoted his predecessor to death ; and after in vain applying 
to the English for their assistance, formed an alliance with the 
famous Mahratta chief, Madhajee Scindia, who had already, by a 
rapid career of conquest, obtained possession of the greater part 
of the territories around Agra and in the Raj ah pout country sub- 
jugated by the arms of Nudjuff Khan. He had a large well-dis- 
ciplined army at his command, and from his being long practised 
in the field, both of Indian politics, and of war, Affrasiab from that 
alliance indulged the most confident hopes of complete success. 
Those hopes would probably have been in a great degree rea- 
lized, but the dreadful knife of assassination in eastern climes is 
always thirsting for blood, and by that knife, aimed by the same 
hands that guided it before, he also fell, a very few days after he 
had, in a personal interview with that chief, agreed on a day 
jointly to attack the common foe. Scindia in this extremity was at 
no loss how to act. By dint of large presents, by promises of im- 
plicit obedience, and a handsome establishment for the royal 
household, he prevailed on the emperor to place himself under 
the protection of his nation, and appoint himself to the command 
of the army, and the governments of Agra and Delhi. The 
Mogul chiefs, being without a head, and divided among them- 
selves in the choice of a successor, bribed by his presents, and 
awed by his army, were soon prevailed upon to acknowledge 



[A. D. 1786. 



his authority, and separately made the best terms they were able 
with the new commander. Shah Aulum had an allowance settled 
upon him of 60,000 rupees per month ; but a Mahratta guard 
constantly attended him, and, in fact, from that moment he was 
only a state-prisoner in the hands of Scindia. 

In the short account of the Mahratta states, inserted in the 
preceding volume,* this very important actor in the scene before 
us, Madhajee Scindia, is stated to nave been the fifth son of 
Ranojee Scindia, the founder of the family, and to have suc- 
ceeded to the patrimonial inheritance, a considerable portion of 
Malwa, obtained by the valour of that father, of which Oujein is 
the capital. By the limits of that province, however, he was by 
no means to be confined, and in the course of recent years, we 
have seen him acting as an expert and daring leader, in most of 
the predatory armies of his nation, that about this period over- 
ran the empire. We have remarked him gradually extending 
his authority over all the adjoining districts to the very banks of 
the Jumna, and securing to himself the conquests of NudjufF 
Khan, in the Jaut country. He compelled the emperor to 
sanction by his presence his ambitious projects, for still more 
widely extending those conquests. The citadel of Agra, after a 
short siege, had submitted, and the stronger fortress of Alleeghur 
rapidly followed. He then marched with him into the country 
of the rajahs, and demanded an annual tribute, which was reluc- 
tantly submitted to, especially by the rajah of Jeypore, the most 
powerful of them, who secretly meditated a determined oppo- 
sition to his claims, although the precise moment of resistance 
was not arrived. After this successful expedition of the new 
minister, the emperor returned to Delhi, and Scindia, with his 
army, went into cantonments at Muttra, v 

* Vol. II. p. 331. 



A. D. 1787.] 



C 623 ] 



Scindia was now in the plenitude of his power, and was both 
feared and respected. In the breasts, however, of the Mogul 
nobility, there burned a spark of latent jealousy, on observing 
the throne subjected to the supreme control of a Mahratta 
adventurer. An incident soon occurred which blew that spark 
into a flame. Towards the close of the following year ( 1787) 
a considerable body of Mahrattas having been dispatched to 
collect the tribute from the Jeypoor and other rajahs, was de- 
feated and put to flight, which occasioned the immediate march 
of Scindia and the whole army into that country. The Rajah- 
pouts, being firmly united, had contrived to distress him, by 
cutting off his supplies, and, in the confusion and distress occa- 
sioned by this calamity, Mahommed, and his brother, Ismael 
Beg, with other Mogul chiefs, deserted to the enemy. In a severe 
action which followed, Mahommed was slain, and his troops 
began to give way, but Ismael Beg, by the example of his heroic 
bravery, so animated the sinking spirit of his soldiers, that they 
returned with fury to the attack, and obtained a complete victory 
over the Mahrattas. Some days after the battle, the Sepoys, 
disciplined after the European manner, in whom lay the strength 
of his army, left Scindia, and enlisted under the banners of 
Ismael Beg, who, following up his victory, ultimately compelled 
that chief to evacuate Agra and Delhi, and retire to Deccan with 
the remains of his discomfited army. Such are the rapid trans- 
itions frequently occurring in India, from the most exalted state 
of power and splendor, to that of abject humiliation and distress. 

The unfortunate emperor was now doomed, once more, to 
change masters. Himself and his capital were in charge of a 
Mahratta garrison, yet Ismael Beg, with the imperial army, was 
fighting against the troops of that nation, and, in the sovereign's 
name, had already commenced the siege of Agra. Even this 



accumulation of evils might be borne ; but a monster deeply 
stained with crimes and blood was now approaching Delhi, 
from whom he was to suffer a series of outrages and insults, un- 
paralleled in the history of thrones, and of such a nature that the 
very recital of them makes humanity shudder. 

The various rebellions of that turbulent chief, Zabeta Khan, 
have been occasionally noticed. Owing to the false policy of the 
Vizier, when he expelled the Rohilla nation from his western 
frontier, this chief was suffered to retain his possessions, in the 
hope that being thus favoured, his power and influence might be 
exerted to check any tumultuous insurrections of his country- 
men. By his own numerous forces, united with the English 
army stationed in his dominions, the Vizier himself was secure 
from his depredations, but he was a perpetual thorn in the side 
of the unfortunate emperor. Towards the close of 1785, 
Zabetah Khan died, and the ferocious chief, above mentioned, 
his son, without paying the slightest homage, or making the 
least offering to the sovereign, as is customary in Hindostan, 
assumed the government of the district. Incensed as the emperor 
was at this slight, until Scindia should return with reinforce- 
ments from Deccan, he had no arm to revenge his wrongs ; 
and Gholaum Caudir having raised a considerable army, in the 
absence of the Deccan chief, meditated the accomplishment of 
projects of the most daring and ambitious kind. The Mahratta 
garrison in Delhi, was known to be neither very powerful, nor 
numerous ; their expulsion, the plunder of the city, and the cap- 
tivity of the aged monarch, might be effected without much 
difficulty and effusion of blood. He had already fortified in the 
strongest manner his principal fort of Ghose-Ghur, and in his 
territory were other fortresses of great strength and intricate 
construction, where a pursuing army might be baffled or eluded. 



A. D. 1787.3 



[6*5] 



The immense treasures, in gold and jewels, supposed to be 
hoarded in the palace, inflamed his imagination ; and the posses- 
sion of the person of the sovereign, who had long swayed the 
Indian sceptre at the will and direction of another, would, he con- 
ceived, insure to him that of all the power remaining in the empire. 
It elevated a petty Rohilla chief to the rank and wealth of princes. 
It was a prize worth contending for : and he determined to 
risque every thing to obtain it. 

To the success of this daring undertaking there was one cir- 
cumstance peculiarly favourable. The great mogul omrahs at 
Delhi, who, both from religious and political prejudices, heartily 
detested the Mahrattas, anxiously desired the emancipation of the 
emperior and his court from the yoke of that nation ; but as the 
Rohillas were of the Mahommedan faith, they were not averse to 
their being under the protection of that power. The Nazir, or 
principal superintendant of the palace, in particular, is accused 
on this occasion of the blackest perfidy, by not only secretly cor- 
responding with the Rohilla, but by inflaming his hopes of the 
spoil to be found in the palace, with which his situation might be 
supposed to render him best acquainted. Ignorant, therefore, of 
the real character of the man whom they hailed as a deliverer, 
they prepared the way for the admission into Delhi of its direst 
scourge ; and when his army, formidable both for their numbers 
and ferocity, appeared before its walls, no native arm was raised 
for its defence: the whole Mahratta garrison, also, knowing 
themselves to be in every respect so vastly inferior, with great 
rapidity evacuated the city. The invader, however, having made 
himself secure of Delhi, did not immediately begin his ■system of 
massacre and tleprcdati on, but having compelled the emperor to 
confer on himself the dignity of Ameer al Omrah, marched away 
to the attack of the strong fortress of Alleeghur, where Scindia 

4 L 



E 626 3 [A. D. 1787. 



bad also left a garrison ; and which, after a short siege, capi- 
tulated. On the fall of Alleeghur, he marched to join Ismael Beg, 
then occupied in besieging Agra ; but with that chief, either from 
jealousy, or some other motive, not perfectly agreeing, he left 
him, in order to pursue his career of conquest in other parts of 
the Dooab. 

Whatever might have been the cause of their separation, it was 
deeply disastrous to Ismael, who shortly after was attacked by 
a considerable Mahratta army, detached by Scindia from Gualior, 
under the command of his confidential minister, Rana Khan, and 
utterly defeated with the loss of all his cannon, baggage, and 
stores. He himself escaped with difficulty, by swimming his 
horse across the Jumna; but, being afterwards joined by a large 
body of his routed cavalry, on an invitation from the Rohilla to 
forget their differences, and unite their forces, he obeyed the 
summons, and the combined armies marched back towards Delhi. 
Shah Aulum being informed of the recent victory gained by the 
Mahrattas, and dreading the rage of Scindia, now forbad their 
entrance into that city, and ordered the gates to be shut against 
the confederated chiefs. The Nazir, however, and other Mogul 
chiefs within, encouraging them, they proceeded to violence, and 
having burst open the gates, again became possessed both of the 
city, and the person of the emperor. 

Introduced to the presence by the perfidious Nazir, they threw 
themselves at the feet of the insulted monarch, and begged his 
forgiveness of a crime founded in the virtuous wish to release 
him from those disgraceful bonds in which the Mahrattas had so 
long holden the illustrious house of Timur. If he would re- 
nounce his alliance with that infidel race, and would appoint them 
his generals, with the same privileges and absolute authority with 
which he had invested Scindia, especially if he would permit one 



A. D 1788.] £627.3 

of ttie princes of the blood to accompany them to the field with 
their united armies, under that sanction they made no doubt of 
driving the Mahrattas back to the Deccan, of restoring the lustre 
of his faded crown, and adding a large increase to his diminished 
revenue. The sceptered dupe of so many projects, the devoted 
victim of so many adventurers, remained for some moments in 
profound silence. At length, rather prevailed upon by the re- 
presentations of the Nazir, who joined in their solicitations, than 
by their intreaties, the unfortunate monarch assented to their 
demands, and a treaty being drawn up, was ratified by the 
solemnity of oaths mutually pledged in one of the mosques of 
the palace. 

In that mosque the doom of the empire and the emperor was 
sealed. The prince who sends an army to the field commanded 
by generals of his own appointing, becomes responsible for the 
charges of it ; but, previously to the late treaty, the armies 
both of the Rohilla and Ismael Beg, had considerable arrears 
due to them, and from the treasury of Delhi those arrears must 
be disbursed. In a few days Gholaum Caudir repeatedly sent to 
demand of the emperor a very considerable sum for that pur- 
pose. The combined armies having as yet done no military 
service for the empire or himself, he refused compliance. This 
irritated the Rohilla, and being assured by Nazir that Shah 
Aulum really did possess secret hoards of treasure and jewels, 
he determined within himself to dethrone the unfortunate 
monarch and send him into confinement, when he would have 
the uncontrolled command of the treasures, and all the pro- 
perty of every kind in the palace. Having communicated this 
determination to Ismael Beg, and obtained his assent, early in the 
morning of the 26th July, 1788, these lawless ruffians, at the 
head of a numerous armed band, having entered the great Hall 



t 6 2 8 3 c;a. d. 1788. 

of Audience, and insolently seated themselves near the throne, 
dispatched that base instrument of their villainy, the Nazir, with 
a positive demand of a large supply of money from the emperor. 
His excuse was that of inability. Two attendants were imme- 
diately ordered to bring from the state prison of the royal family, 
Bedar Bukht, son of the deceased emperor Ahmed Shah. The 
prince being placed on the imperial musnud, received from the 
chiefs and all present the usual presents and salutations made to 
an emperor on his first ascending the throne. Shah Aulum, with 
nineteen princes, his sons and grandsons, was then by the unre- 
lenting Gholaum ordered into close confinement in an apartment 
of the palace called Noormahal. Here himself and family 
were kept without victuals or drink till they were nearly perish- 
ing with hunger ; and on the 28th, one of the princes of Bedar's 
family having sent a few cakes and a little water to Shah Aulum, 
was ordered to be beaten with clubs. 

The two rebel chiefs now began the search for treasures, in 
which they were grievously disappointed, as, contrary to the sug- 
gestions of the Nazir, very little was found in the treasury. This 
disappointment produced a violent quarrel between the confe- 
derated robbers, and they parted at length, in very ill blood ; 
Ismael retiring to his camp, and Gholaum Caudir continuing in 
the palace. The new emperor in the mean time used his utmost 
exertions, the price of his throne, in collecting together all the 
remaining valuables of the palace, and by menaces and persua- 
sion obtained from the princesses of the haram the whole of their 
jewels and wealth of every kind, which he sent in trays to 
Gholaum Caudir ; but the important secret of the concealed 
treasure was supposed to be locked up in the breast of the de- 
throned emperor. On the 29th, Gholaum Caudir having prepared 
five whips, obliged Bedar Shah to take one in his hands, and 



A. D. 1788.3 L 629 3 

accompany him to extort a confession of his treasures from Shah 
Aulum. On the 30th, several ladies of the haram were tied up and 
beaten with whips in order to compel a discovery of their effects, 
and the whole palace resounded with lamentations. On the 31st, 
Gholaum, by these means, had heaped such an immensity of 
spoil, that, to pacify the enraged Ismael Beg, he sent him five 
lacks of rupees, as part of the plunder of the palace. During all 
this time the severest exactions were going on in the city, and 
among others this day, seven bankers were seized and imprisoned, 
in order to extort money from them. August 1st, Gholaum Caudir 
went again to the miserable Shah Aulum, and threatened him 
with punishment. " What I possessed," said the agonizing prince, 
" you have got ; if you think I carry concealed treasures within 
me, rip up my bowels, and be convinced/' 

The aged princesses Maleka Zumani, and Saheba Mhal, 
mentioned in a former page as the widows of Mahommed 
Shah, still resided in Delhi. They were esteemed immensely 
rich, having not been molested during all the revolutions that 
had taken place since the death of that monarch. As they were 
related to the new monarch they were sent for to the palace, by 
a mandate that allowed of no refusal, and made instrumental to 
the purpose of plundering of their valuables the female part of 
its inhabitants, to whom at first some deference was paid ; but 
the unsparing Afghaun soon forgot those distinctions so re- 
spected over all the Eastern world, and equally devoted male 
and female to depredation. These princesses having been made 
thus useful, were themselves, in their turn, plundered of their 
vast property, and on the ground of having still concealed trea- 
sures, subjected to the tongue of insult and to the pangs of 
hunger. The storm now also deservedly began to roll upon the 
Nazir, who became the victim of his own deception ; seven 



CA.D. 1788. 



lacks were demanded from him. On the 3d, the most daring in- 
sult was offered by Gholaum to his imperial pageant. Having 
seated himself near him, he smoaked his hookah in his presence, 
with his feet stretched out upon the royal musnud, insulting him 
at the same time with the grossest invectives. On the 6th, 
however, he proceeded further, and seized upon the throne itself, 
with all the other thrones and seats, no longer golden, as in the 
better days of the empire, but ornamented with plates of gold 
and silver; those plates were torn off, and consigned to the 
mint. And now the floors of all the apartments in the palace, as 
well those inhabited by males as females, were dug up, and the 
cielings torn down to discover hidden treasure ; and great lots of 
jewels, money, and plate, buried long previous to the birth of 
Shah Aulum, and utterly unknown to that indigent monarch, were 
in fact discovered. Still unsatiated, the rapacious Gholaum went 
again to the dethroned emperor, and demanded the money which 
he had saved from the revenues of Bengal and Allahabad. The 
unfortunate prince in reply begged him " to put him to death, 
and end his troubles." On the 7th, Bedar Shah was severely 
threatened with corporeal correction, and even with dethrone- 
ment, if more money was not instantly produced. The miserable 
half famished king exclaimed that he should be happy to be 
released from such mock royalty. The Nazir too was threatened 
with flagellation, if he did not produce more money ; and had a 
guard set upon him. 

At length the fatal tenth of August arrived, when, not content 
with starving, beating, and otherwise grossly insulting his liege 
sovereign, and all the princes, and what to an Asiatic is still more 
horrible ! the princesses of the royal family, the monster, attended 
by five Afghans, ferocious as himself, rushed into the apartment 
of Shah Aulum^ and repeated his demand for the treasure, the 



A. D. 1788.] I 631 ] 

concealed treasure ! Tlie usual answer that he had no concealed 
hoards being returned, he ordered the attendant ruffians to seize 
the princes his sons, Soleyman Akber and others, to lift them up 
on high, and dash them on the ground with violence before the 
face of the agonizing father. At this refinement of diabolical 
cruelty, that father passionately exclaimed ; " Traitor ! forbear 
such cruelty to my children in my sight." The dsemon then, 
resolved that he should never see them nor the sun more ! 
ordered the Afghans to cast the hapless monarch on the ground, 
which they did, and, falling upon him, stabbed out his eyes with 
a dagger. Other accounts say that he himself rushing upon the 
bosom of the prostrate king, with his own hands pricked out his 
eyes with the point of a poniard ; an act perfectly credible, and 
entirely consonant with his bloody disposition. He then ordered 
the miserable princes to undergo the same fate ; but from this 
additional piece of frantic barbarity he was restrained by the 
humane entreaties of an officer in his train. While these dread- 
ful scenes were transacting, the whole palace rang with female 
shrieks and outcries of horror, which the menace of whips and 
the terror of inflicted tortures could not for a long time silence. 
The pale and bleeding monarch was left without medical aid in 
this miserable condition ; but afterwards, being in exquisite pain, 
two surgeons of the household were upon his earnest intreaty 
permitted to attend him, and dress his wounds. 

In the mean time, owing to the boundless rapacity of the 
Rohillas, the whole city continued in the utmost disorder and 
confusion; all the bankers and jewellers shops were shut up, 
and half the terrified inhabitants had fled into the country. On 
the 12th, more money was sent to the camp to Ismael lieg, and 
the apparently reconciled chiefs paid a yjs|t to licdar Shall in 
company. On the l^th, parties of Mahratta horse made their 



£A. D. 1788. 



appearance in the suburbs, and Ismael Beg is supposed to be 
secretly in treaty with their general Rana Khan, for the sur- 
render of Gholautn Caudir, but procrastinates, that he may ob- 
tain as large a division of the plunder as possible. On the 18th, 
the Mharattas approach nearer, intercept a large convoy from 
Ghoseghur, and, in defending it, many Rohillas are cut to 
pieces, or drowned in the river. Even in this extremity, unsa- 
tiated with blood and plunder, and presuming on the superior 
strength of the combined armies to that of the Mahratta chief, 
the Rohilla continued his cruelties and spoliation in the palacey 
where several ladies expired with famine, and Shah Aulum, in 
his deplorable situation, was still denied bread for himself 
and his distracted family. So infatuated was this monster of 
depravity, that while the royal family were perishing with 
hunger around him, he would make sumptuous banquets in the 
Lion Tower, carouze all night with his officers, and in the 
wanton excess of his intoxication would send for the young 
princes, to sing and play before him, excusing his conduct by 
observing that they were the offspring of singers. The Mah- 
rattas, in the mean time are making still nearer advances towards 
the city, which they almost surround, and cut off all supplies from 
it. With the Rohillas they have frequent skirmishes ; but the 
grand attack is delayed till re-inforcements from Deccan, daily 
expected, shall have arrived. The Rohilla chiefs, avaricious as 
their leader, now began to mutiny for want of pay: Gholaum 
Caudir, advancing to appease them, one of the mutineers, draw- 
ing his dagger attempted to stab him, but was prevented by his 
companions. They were at length appeased by his promise of 
advancing them two months pay immediately. 

In the beginning of September, intelligence of the rapid 
approach of the great body of the Mahratta army induced the 



A. D. 1787.3 t 63s 3 

Rohilla seriously to think of quitting Delhi. With this view, part 
of his army on the 7th of that month crossed the river, on which 
the Mahrattas, unable to cope with them, retreated to some dis- 
tance. He had before seized upon all the elephants and horses 
of the royal stables, together with their accoutrements, and he 
now divided the royal tents and field equipage among his needy 
retainers. The plunder of the palace had been all previously 
packed up in boats, and carried off : it was doubtless the hopes 
of eventually sharing in this plunder that kept his numerous 
afmy so compactly together. On the 14th, having received cer- 
tain information that Ismael Beg had joined the Mahrattas, and 
was seeking an opportunity to deliver him up to Rana Khan, the 
terror-struck Rohilla on a sudden left the palace, and cross- 
ing the Jumna on his elephant joined his army, incamped on the 
opposite bank. In a few days however he returned to that scene 
of his brutal devastations ; and suspecting Shah Aulum of hold- 
ing a secret correspondence with the enemy, grossly abused, and 
with his own hands severely beat that blind and aged monarch ; 
declaring that he would take the whole of his children with him, 
and that if he were defeated, he would put them all to instant 
death. He then forced them all into a boat, except Akber, who 
making some resistance, he was about to cut him down with his 
scymitar, when that spirited prince was also obliged to submit. 
With these he compelled the treacheous Nazir, and the aged 
princesses so often mentioned, to embark, that he might have 
under his control the whole royal family, and having evacuated 
the citadel he set fire to all the combustible parts of it ; an act 
of savage atrocity worthy of his preceding conduct ! The flames 
were extinguished, and the city and palace immediately taken 
possession of by the Mahratta chief, who released Shah Aulum 
from his confinement, and humanely ordered refreshments to be 

4 M 



C 3 CA. D. 1788. 



served up to himself and the numerous persons of the haram, 
who for seven previous days had subsisted only on dry grain 
and water. 

The reinforcement, so long expected by the Mahratta general, 
having at length arrived, Rana Khan lost no time in crossing the 
Jumna with his whole army, in order to attack Gholaum 
Caudir, and recover from his grasp the royal victims. That 
traitor, unable to withstand so formidable an army, immediately 
retreated towards his own country, but was pursued with such 
vigour and celerity that he was compelled to take refuge in the 
town of Mhirta, where he offered terms of submission as humi- 
liating as his prior conduct had been haughty and arrogant ; they 
were rejected by the Mahratta with indignation, and on the 21st 
of December a general assault was made on the place. The 
Rohilla and his troops defended the fort for a whole day with 
determined bravery ; but seeing no prospect of final success, and 
justly dreading the vengeance that awaited him, Gholaum 
mounted a fleet horse, and having first carefully packed up the 
finest jewels obtained in the plunder of the palace in the saddle 
and howsings, made his escape in the dead of the following night. 
He had not advanced many miles when his horse fell with him, 
and he was so severly bruised by the fall that he lay on the 
ground unable to move ; while the horse, recovering himself, 
galloped away with the treasures of Delhi, and was never after 
heard of. In this situation the inhabitants of a neighbouring 
village at day-break discovered the prostrate chief, and carried 
him prisoner to the Mahratta camp. Deserted by their com- 
mander, the Rohilla garrison at Mhirta on the following day 
surrendered at discretion. The princes of the royal family, 
as well as the aged princesses, v/ere liberated by Rana Khan, 
treated with the greatest respect, and sent back to Delhi with 



A. D. 1788J 



a proper guard for their protection, while the perfidious Nazir 
was thrown into irons, and reserved for condign punishment. 
Gholam Caudir too, when he arrived in the camp, was heavily 
loaded with irons, and, being placed in an iron cage, was kept 
for some time suspended in the front of the army to be gazed at 
as a monster of vice and unparalleled barbarity. Soon after, upon 
Scindiah's joining the army, by his orders the former was trodden 
to death by elephants ; and the latter, having first had his nose 
and ears, and then his hands and feet, cut off, in this mutilated 
condition was sent to Shah Aulum at Delhi ; but the miserable 
wretch died while conveying thither. 

Scindiah, in the mean time, rapidly pursuing his career of 
victory, soon arrived in the country of the deceased rebel, where 
his discomfited army, unable to make any effectual opposition, 
fled in every direction before him. He soon became possessed 
of Ghoseghur, and all the inferior forts in that district, and added 
those territories to his own extensive domains in the Dooab. 
Having left a strong Mahratta force in his new conquests, he 
then marched to Delhi, where, sending Bedar Shah back to his 
ancient state-prison of Selim-Ghur, he, with great pomp, once 
more raised the blind debilitated monarch to the musnud, and 
had coins again struck in his name. But, notwithstanding these 
pompous ceremonies, which, like many other transactions of 
recent date, by the usurpers of the supreme authority at Delhi, 
can only be regarded as a solemn mockery of fallen majesty, 
since by the ancient laws both of Persia and India, a prince de- 
prived of sight can never legally wield the imperial sceptre, I 
consider the reign of Shah Aulum as terminated, and the Indian" 
Empire itself, of which I have attempted, however inadequately, 
to give the General History, as no longer existing. From this 
period I consider the glorious sun of Timur, which had for so 



£A. D. 1788. 



many ages illumined India, as set for ever ! A dark and deeply 
ensanguined cloud had long hovered over the metropolis, and, at 
length, bursting upon the imperial palace, overwhelmed the last 
miserable sceptred descendant of that mighty race. 

The most exalted state of human grandeur, whether enjoyed 
by kingdoms or dynasties, has its allotted period ; and what 
more proper period can be assigned by the historian to the Indian 
Empire and the dynasty of Timur, than that in which all au- 
thority in the Supreme Head became annihilated, and all sub- 
ordination in its dependent branches destroyed ? That mighty 
empire, which, under Aurungzeb, reached from the tenth to the 
thirty-fifth degree of latitude, and nearly as much in longitude, 
and produced a revenue exceeding thirty-two millions of pounds 
sterling, was now reduced (hear it, indignant Shade of Akber !) 
to a ruinated city, and a scanty district around it, with only a few 
eleemosynary lacks of rupees, allowed for the subsistence of that 
Head by a vassal chief, belonging to a nation ever among the bit- 
terest enemies of his family ! It is high time to draw the curtain 
over such melancholy scenes, as those which have darkened the 
concluding pages of this volume ; and we take leave of that po- 
tent dynasty that once made the proudest thrones of Asia tremble, 
with mingled sensations of admiration and pity ; with admiration 
of their heroic virtues, and pity for their unparalleled mis- 
fortunes. 



END OF THE MOGUL HISTORY. 



EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS. 



CONCLUDING PORTION. 



I 6 39 3 



ADVERTISE MENT. 

At the conclusion of Chapter V. on the European settlers in 
India, in the preceding volume, the subjoined paragraph- 
occurs, 

" Having now brought the History of the European esta- 
blishments, and more particularly, that of the Company in 
Bengal, down to the close of the year 175 7, we shall in the next 
Book resume, and uninterruptedly pursue, the regular Mogul 
history to its termination, that is, to the last visit of Abdallah 
to Delhi, when its authority virtually expired. In an additional 
Book, the History of the European Establishments, or rather 
that of our East-India Company, in which they were ultimately 
absorbed, will again be continued, and the work conclude with 
a summary statement of the different powers among which that 
once mighty empire is at present divided." 

The first of these promises has, it is hoped, been fulfilled to 
the reader's entire satisfaction, since, in fact, the Mogul History 
has been brought nearly thirty years lower down than the last 
visit of Abdallah to Delhi, which took place in A. D. 1761. 
The latter promise it is found utterly impossible to fulfil in 
the extent desired, not only from the immense field to be tra- 
versed, and the magnitude and infinite variety of the events, 
the details of which, on the most limited scale, it is calculated 
would occupy two large additional volumes ; but from the 
proximity of the period, a period of fierce debate and high 
political contention to that in which we live, rendered too 



delicate to be entered upon ; many of the principal actors in 
those turbulent scenes being still living, and the embers of 
contention and jealousy scarcely yet extinguished. After an 
immense labour and expence incurred in procuring the books 
and pamphlets requisite, most of them, unhappily, too strongly 
marked by the prevailing passions and prejudices of the times 
in which they were composed, to be perused without the most 
guarded caution, the project is for the present laid aside. 

It has, however, been thought proper to wind up this part of 
the work by presenting the/reader with an Additional Chapter, 
in which the long and ardent contests of the English and French 
nations on the Coast of Coromandel were brought to a final 
termination by the destruction of Pondicherry, and the expul- 
sion of the French from India, in 1761, at the close of which 
year not a flag of that nation was seen flying on any fortress 
along the whole of its extensive coast. It seemed also ne- 
cessary to bring down the English affairs in Bengal, which 
by the Shah Zaddah's irruption in 1759, began to be intimately 
blended with those of the empire, to the important period in 
which they obtained from the same prince, afterwards em- 
peror, the office of Dewanny, or collection of the revenues 
(dated 12th of August, 1765), in Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, 
which elevated them from a chartered body of merchants to 
the rank of sovereign princes. 

With respect to the rowers among whom India is at present 
divided, the elegant coloured Map of India 5 engraved by 
Arrowsmith expressly for this work, will in that respect be a 
surer guide to the reader than any more elaborate description 
which it miaht be in the power of the Author to furnish, 



EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS. 

CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 

Affairs of Bombay. — The Pirate Angria defeated and his Forte 
demolished ; first , under Commodore James, and finally, under 
Admiral Watson, and Colonel Clive. — Affairs on tlie Coromandel 
Coast.— Count Lally arrives at Pondicherry with powerful rein- 
forcements from France. — Immediately marches against Fort St. 
David's. — Attacks, takes, and completely demolishes tliat city. 
'—Inflamed with this success he leads his army against Madras. — 
His partial success. — The siege raised by the arrival in Madras- 
roads of a fleet and army from England.— -Disgraceful retreat of 
the French to Pondicherry. — Thus reinforced, early in 1758 the 
English take the field. — Battle of WandewasJu — Tlwir signal 
successes by land and sea. — With their united forces they besiege, 
and take Pondicherry ; which fine city they demolish in revenge for 
the demolition of Fort St. David's, and thus put a period for tlie 
present to the French power and consequence in India. — Affairs 
in Bengal. — The Shah Zaddah invades Bengal; repulsed by- 
Clive. — J a ffie r deposed ; Cossim raised to the Nabobs hip. — On 
Cossim's flagrant abuse of the power intrusted to him, J offer 
replaced on the Musnud. — War with Cossim, wfio cruelly murders 
rn cold blood 200 English gentlemen at Paina. — War with tlie 
Nabob Vizier, supported by the new Emperor. — Defeated in every 
action with the English army, both eventually submit and throw 
themselves on the protection of the English. — The Nabob Vizier 
restored to his dominions in Oude. — The Emperor issues a firmaun, 
granting to the English the office of Duanny of Bengal, Bahar, 
and Orissa. — That firmaun the basis of their future greatness and 
unrivalled prosperity. 

4N 



[A. D. 1756. 



Engaged in detailing and bringing to a conclusion the more 
splendid and interesting events that occurred in Bengal under 
Clive and Watson, we neglected to notice in its proper place 
the important service rendered to the Company's affairs on the 
Malabar coast and at Bombay, by the spirited and successful 
attack of the fleet under Commodore James and Admiral Watson, 
on the usurped maritime domains of the renowned pirate Angria. 
It forms too important a feature in the history of that settlement 
to be omitted, and is in substance as follows. 

In the infancy of the Mahratta government, a daring individual 
of that tribe, grandson of Sevajee, named Conajee Angria, had 
been employed by the Saho Rajah* as an admiral in the defence 
of that coast against the incursions of the Siddee, or Mogul 
admiral. The most signal success had crowned the naval efforts 
of this man. and inflamed by that success, he aspired to indepen- 
dence of the power that made him. In pursuance of this plan he 
seized upon all the strong forts on that range of coast, and by 
the aid of European engineers rendered them impregnable against 
any attacks of the native powers, Mahratta or Mogul. Issuing 
from these rocky recesses, these maritime retreats formed by 
the indenture of the coasts, in vessels of peculiar construction, 
called grabs, strongly built, and skilfully managed, himself and 
his descendants, all bearing the name of Angria, had now for 
half a century carried on a predatory war not only against the 
Mohammedan powers who traded to and from India, but even 
against the more formidable states of Europe ; capturing ships 
of great burthen and wealth, and often, through their number 
and valour, victorious over their ships of war. All nations had 
suffered by these depredations, but the English more severely 
* See an account of the Saho Rajah in vol. u. p. 236. 



A. D. 1756a C^43D 

than others. To repress the insolence of these marine adven- 
turers the presidency of Bombay had been put to an enormous 
expence in fitting out various expeditions, and in keeping up a 
constant naval force for the protection of their valuable com- 
merce. Most of those expeditions had totally failed, and it was 
not until Commodore James was appointed to that station, and 
sent on that service, in 1755, that any impression was made on 
the barbarous but wary enemy. James had indeed with only four 
ships attacked some of the minor forts on the coast with vigour 
and success, and had even laid the stronger one of Severndroog 
in ruins ; but still the business was only half done. The arrival 
in those seas, about this time, of Admiral Watson, with a more 
powerful fleet from England, seemed to afford a favourable op- 
portunity for following up the blow and completing the long 
meditated conquest. After due consultation, therefore, with the 
admiral, it was resolved by that presidency to attempt the exter- 
mination of this race of piratical marauders. 

The principal fortress of Angria, and capital of all his domi- 
nions, was named Gheria, situated on a rocky promontory about 
a mile and a quarter long, and at the entrance of a spacious har- 
bour, which forms the mouth of a river descending from the 
Balagaut mountains. The rock on which Gheria stood, rose fifty 
feet in perpendicular height above the level of the water, and 
the fortifications erected upon it consisted of a double wall with 
round towers, and were of proportionate thickness and elevation ; 
many of the massy stones of which they were composed being 
ten feet long, and as many broad. In short) no cx pence or labour 
had been spared to render this place impregnable ; for it was the 
depositary of all his treasures, and the grand arsenal of all 1 1 is 
naval stores. Adjoining the harbour were extensive docks for 
ship-buildingi, and opposite to them, at this time, were lying ten 



[A. D. 1756. 



of the strongest of his grabs, fastened together in such a man • 
ner that if one should take fire, all the others must inevitably be 
consumed with it. 

So many formidable accounts of this fortress had reached 
Bombay, representing it as absolutely impregnable ; a little 
Gibraltar situated on a mountain inaccessible from the sea ; that 
it was resolved in council there to send vessels to reconnoitre it : 
and he whose daring naval efforts had caused the enemy most 
annoyance, the commodore himself, was immediately dispatched 
in the Protector of 44, guns, assisted by two other ships, on that 
arduous service. After having run considerable danger by ap- 
proaching within cannon shot of the fort, that intrepid officer 
returned in December with a more accurate account of Gheria, 
which he acknowledged to be a place of prodigious strength both 
by nature and art, but neither inaccessible, nor impregnable. 

As Angria was in equal hostility with the Mahratta as with the 
English government, an invitation was sent, as had been sent be- 
fore, to the chiefs of that nation to join in the expedition against 
their common enemy, and recommending a vigorous attack upon 
him from the land side, while the English fleet battered the for- 
tifications, and attacked his fleet in front. The proposal was 
acceded to with readiness, and at length, the preparations being 
complete, on the 11th of February, 1756, Admiral Watson, as- 
sisted by the patriotic zeal and tried abilities of Commodore 
James, with a fleet of nine sail, four of which were of the line, 
accompanied by five bomb-vessels, appeared before Gheria. On 
board this fleet, beside marines, was a battalion of 800 Euro- 
peans, together with 1000 sepoys, under the command of Clive. 
A large army of Mahrattas, under Ramajee Punt, had also 
marched from Choul to invest the place by land, and, thus block- 
aded on every side, the dreadful conflict commenced. 



A. D. 1756.] 



c 645 n 



After the usual but ineffectual ceremony of summoning the 
fort to surrender, the fleet entered the harbour in two divisions, 
parallel to each other, and, anchoring on the north side of the 
fortifications, at the distance of 50 yards, began to batter them 
with 150 pieces of cannon, while from the bomb- vessels an infi- 
nite number of shells was at the same time discharged, some of 
which falling into the grabs, moored together as above described, 
set them on fire, and in a short time the whole were consumed. The 
besieged in the mean time were not idle, but kept up an incessant 
fire on their assailants, from near 200 cannon: being ill-directed, 
however, no great injury was done to the shipping ; whereas, on 
the part of the English, every shot took effect, and before sun- 
set the guns of the fort were entirely silenced. Angria predict- 
ing his fate, and detesting the English, had fled to the Mahratta 
camp, in hopes by large bribes of purchasing his peace with that 
venal nation. Anxious to get possession of his riches, to the 
exclusion of the English, they obtained an order from him to his 
brother, whom he had left chief in command, to deliver up the 
keys of the fort to the former only, and to resist the English to 
the last. Apprized by a deserter of these clandestine proceedings, 
Admiral Watson re-commenced the attack with redoubled vi- 
gour, to prevent their insidious allies accomplishing their designs, 
and Colonel Give, landing in the night with his whole force, 
contrived to get between them and the fort. With the dawn the 
summons to surrender was renewed, together with the menace 
that if the fort were not delivered up in an hour, it would be 
stormed, and no quarter given. This peremptory requisition 
being followed up by a cannonade still more terrible than the 
former, had the desired effect, and in a short time the garrison 
surrendered. Colonel Clive, with his battalion, immediately took 
possession of the fort with all that it contained, w hich in military 



C W 3 



CA. D. 1756. 



and naval stores, and valuable effects of every kind, was of im- 
mense amount, besides a large sum in money, which was distri- 
buted without reserve among the brave captors. The other forts 
in the usurped marine domains of Angria being afterwards 
assailed by the allied powers, were successively taken possession 
of ; and thus in one month a formidable enemy that for 50 years 
had ravaged the coast, and annoyed the fleets of all nations, was 
not only crushed but in a manner annihilated.* 

AFFAIRS OF COROMANDEL. 

In a preceding page we stated that the deputation sent from 
Bengal, in 1756, to solicit relief from Madras, found that presi- 
dency occupied. in preparing to send a detachment of 300 Euro- 
peans into Deccan to aid Salabad Jing -f in getting rid of M, 
Bussy and the French, who completely tyrannized over him and 
his whole court. The destination of that force, together with 600 
Europeans, and 1500 sepoys in addition, immediately ordered 
for Bengal, left Fort St. George so destitute of troops that 
nothing could be attempted for the Soubah, while the presidency 
itself remained exposed to an immediate attack from the French 
of Pondicherry, should they be tempted to violate the conditional 
treaty, or rather the suspension of arms, so lately only agreed 
upon. The presidency therefore, in order to fortify the seat of 
government, without delay from all the inferior dependencies in 
the Carnatic, called in as great a number of troops as could be 
spared from the indispensible duty of their respective garrisons, 
and, even with this additional aid, its security appeared to be at 
best very precarious. 

• With respect to affairs in the Deccan, the contention between 

* Orme, Vol. I. p. 417. Cambridge, p. 129^ 
if See of the preceding volume page 355. 



A. D. 1756.3 [ 647 ] 



Salabad Jing, or rather between his ministers and M. Bussy, 
having arisen to a great height, the latter, at the peremptory com- 
mand of the Soubah, left his camp, with all his troops, and after a 
long and toilsome march of nearly 300 miles, conducted with great 
ability through an enemy's country, arrived in safety at Hydrabad, 
where he strongly fortified himself. At this place he continued 
till he was reinforced by a detachment of 400 men, which, at 
his request, had been sent from Pondicherry to Masulipatam, 
the nearest French settlement, whence they had rapidly advanced 
to join him, a distance of 200 miles, and had, in their march, en- 
countered difficulties, little inferior to his own. With this addi- 
tional force he was enabled to establish himself in what are called 
the northern Circars, a portion of the maritime part of Deccan, 
which in a preceding page we observed were ceded to the French 
by Salabad Jing, in reward for their assistance in exalting him to 
the musnud, and the revenues of which are stated by Mr. Orme 
as amounting to half a million sterling.* He was also enabled 
to carry on a vigorous and successful war with the refractory 
Rajahs, or Zemindars in that region of the peninsula, and finally 
to awe the Soubah himself and his ministers into peace and sub- 
mission. Having obtained this distinguished success over both 
the native and the Mogul forces, and having gained some intelli- 
gence of the intention of the Council of Madras to send succours 
to the Soubah, he now fell with fury on the English settlements 
in that part of the peninsula, and was crowned with success 
equally brilliant. Among inferior factories in its vicinity, the 
more important one of Vizigapatam was after a short investment 
reduced, and by its capture the French became masters of that 
whole coast from Ganjam to Masulipatam. -f- This was precisely 
the period of the proudest triumph of the French arms in India ; 

* Orme, Vol. I. p. 335. t Cambridge, p. 137. 



• 



c m rr ca. d. 1758. 

how rapid and dreadful a change in their affairs afterwards took 
place will be demonstrated in no very distant page. 

War being declared about this time between the two countries, 
in 1756 a powerful fleet was with the utmost expedition, for its 
magnitude, dispatched in the following year from France to 
India, containing an armament far more formidable, and better 
appointed than ever had been transported thither in one fleet. 
The fleet consisted of twelve ships of different rates, commanded 
by M. d'Ache ; the land forces by General Count Lally, a man 
haughty and daring as Dupleix himself, and: armed with unlimited 
powers to drive the detested English from all their settle- 
ments on the coast of Coromandei, and retaliate on their towns 
the unsparing vengeance poured out on Chandernagore. His 
orders were immediately on his arrival, which, however, owing 
to a most disastrous voyage did not take place until the end of 
April, 1 758, to commence the siege of Fort St. David ; and in 
fact the very night of his landing, 1000 Europeans, together 
with as many sepoys, commanded by Count D'Estaign, were 
seen in full march to attack that fort preparatory to the bolder 
meditated attempt on Madras. 

Lally quickly followed at the head of all the force that could 
be drawn together for the attack on Fort St. David, and, before 
it, Was soon collected an army amounting to 2500 French, the 
most formidable body of Europeans that India had ever seen as- 
sembled, with nearly as many sepoys, ami a proportionate train 
of artillery . Colonel Polier commanded in the fort, and is thought 
not to have made all the resistance for which he was provided 
with the means ; for though the enemy's cannon, which played 
furiously and incessantly, had before he surrendered very much 
damaged the works, no practicable breach had been made. The 
garrison, however, scarcely 300 in number, were utterly inade- 



A. D. 1758.] 



c $4*9 : 



quate to its defence, the tanks or reservoirs having been inj ured 
by the bombardment, so that little water was to be had, and the 
ammunition was almost expended. The fort capitulated on the 
1st of June, 1758. The garrison were made prisoners of war ; 
nor could the most earnest solicitations of the commander and 
the governor carry the proposal that the fortifications should not 
be demolished during the war. 

A court of enquiry was afterwards instituted at Madras, in 
which Major Polier's personal bravery was highly commended, 
but the early surrender, and the conditions, were reprobated in 
the most unqualified terms. The garrison were sent to Pondi- 
cherry, there to remain until their release could be effected by 
the delivery of an equal number of French prisoners. In strict 
conformity to the decided resolution formed at the court of Ver- 
sailles of exterminating the English, and levelling their settle- 
ments on the coast of Coromandel, Count Lally now proceeded 
to the utter demolition of the works of Fort St. David. The 
whole were blown up and reduced to a heap of ruins. The re- 
vengeful spirit of French hostility did more than this ; it led him 
to destroy many beautiful villas of the English in that quarter, 
and many handsome public structures that adorned the face of 
the country. 

The English at Madras now became justly and deeply alarmed. 
They saw the storm that had ruined St. David's rolling towards 
St. George, and ready to burst upon the citadel. They immedi- 
ately called in all the remaining troops in the garrisons of the 
different factories in the Carnatic ; and proceeded with vigour 
and celerity to make the necessary arrangements for sustaining 
an attack which was to decide the fate of the British capital in 
Coromandel. 

I forbear to follow M. Lally through his rapid and varied 

4 O 



C $5° 3 



£A. D. 1758. 



career of victories in the Carnatic, while Madras remained with- 
out adequate resources to obstruct his progress. I forbear to 
notice, as irrelevant, the everlasting contests in which his haughty 
intractable spirit, born to control rather than to submit, involved 
him with M. Deleyrit, the civil governor, and the council of 
Pondicherry, who seem to have thwarted him in all the great 
designs which he had formed for the aggrandizement of his 
Country in India, and to have locked against him the Company's 
treasury, which contained the sinews of war. My concern is 
only with the great features of his administration, and, therefore, 
passing by minor intervening incidents, let us attend him on his 
march to invest Fort St. George, flushed with his triumph over 
St. David's, and confident that that imperial settlement would 
experience a similar catastrophe. 

Early in December 1758 the grand French army, augmented 
by large detachments from all their settlements in that region of 
India were seen advancing to the attack. Their number amounted 
to 3500 Europeans, 2000 sepoys, and as many horse. The 
English force, in like manner augmented, consisted of 1750 
Europeans, and 2000 sepoys : and of this force a considerable 
proportion, under the command of Colonel Lawrence, had en- 
camped on an eminence, called St. Thomas's mount, distant about 
nine miles from Madras. It is thus denominated from an ancient 
tradition, that the apostle St. Thomas had preached the gospel 
to the Indians on that spot. It is justly esteemed for the good- 
ness of the air, and the pleasantness of the situation, on which 
account a number of villas have been built on the scite by the 
gentlemen of Madras, surrounded with beautiful gardens and 
plantations. As it was not the intention of the Colonel to risque 
an engagement with such an inferior force, especially when a 
defeat would inevitably be attended with the loss of Madras, on 



A. D. 1759-^ C 651 1 

the approach of the enemy he gradually drew off his battalions- 
from the mount, and encamped nearer the town, on what is 
called the Choultry plain. The following day Lally encamped 
on the deserted mount, and on the 12th of December himself 
advanced to the Choultry plain. The English army, after about 
two hours cannonading, retired into the fort ; and that evening 
the enemy encamped on the very spot which they had abandoned. 
At the same time their advanced guard took possession of the 
garden-house, and the neighbouring village, in order to invest 
the town 

Early in the morning of the 14th of December, M. Lallj 
marched in two columns to attack, and take possession of the 
Black Town, whose large extent made it impossible for the 
small force of the English to dispute it with the enemy. An 
immense multitude of black people, principally women and chil- 
dren, with frantic cries and gestures, now crowded towards the 
fort claiming protection, and imploring admission within the walls ; 
but this favour could not be granted, and they were advised 
under the cover of the night, to disperse themselves over the- 
country. While however the enemy were engaged in plundering 
the Black Town, and many of them were intoxicated with the 
arrack found in considerable quantities in its warehouses, a vigo- 
rous and unexpected sally was made by Colonel Draper, at the 
head of 500 men, which spread confusion and dismay through 
their ranks, and put the greatest part of them to precipitate 
flight. Being at length rallied by their officers, a severe but 
short conflict took place, in which the enemy lost in killed and 
wounded thirty officers and nearly 300 men ; the loss of the 
garrison too was serious, being altogether nine officers, and 200 
men killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. This daring enter- 
prize convinced M. Lally that he had now lo contend with a very 



[A. D. 



different description of men from those who had behaved so 
ignobly at Fort St. David's. 

Immediately after, the French began to prepare their batteries, , 
and other necessary works for the close investment of the fort. 
The artillery, however, which they had embarked for the siege 
was still at a distance on the seas, impeded by contrary winds; 
on the 2ad a great part of it arrived in the Harlem, and on the 
2d of January, 1759, at break of day, a tremendous bombardment 
commenced from the principal batteries, which was answered 
with great spirit from the fort, both with shells and shot, and the 
contest was continued until seven at night, with little injury to- 
the town, and with less to the besieged. The attack was resumed 
on the 6th and 7th with increased vigour on the part of the enemy ; 
but by the strenuous exertions of Mr. Call, the chief engineer, 
their fire was as vigorously retorted, and the damage sustained 
rapidly repaired. As that gentleman's regular journal of the . 
siege is published, and may be consulted in Mr. Cambridge's 
work, I must refer the reader for more particular details to his 
authentic page. To military men they are alone important, and 
they are both, there, and in Mr. Orme, accompaniedwith draughts 
and plans which render them perfectly intelligible. It is sufficient 
for these pages to record, that after a severe blockade, which 
commenced 01a the lath of December, 1758, and concluded on 
the 17th of February, 1759, during which interval all the ener- 
gies of united skill and valour were exerted on both sides, this 
memorable siege terminated by the appearance of an English 
fleet of six sail in the road of Madras, and bringing to its aid a 
detachment of 600 Europeans, with a proportionate quantity of 
money, stores, and ammunition. The latter, however, though 
welcome, was not materially wanted, owing to the provident care 
of Mr. Pigot, the governor, who both before and. during the 



A. D. 1759.: C 653 3 

siege had unceasingly performed ail the various duties of h\3 
arduous situation.* 

This long-expected fleet was first descried approaching the 
road, about 5 o'clock on the evening of the 16th of February, 
but it was near ten before, directed by lights held out in the fort, 
they cast anchor in the road. Consequently, on such a coast, no 
debarkation could take place until the following morning ; a cir- 
cumstance that might have been, but fortunately was not, attended 
with very serious consequences to the besieged. Lally had arro- 
gantly declared that he never would relinquish the enterprize 
until he had tried the success of a general assault, and it was 
firmly expected by the garrison that it would take place that very 
night, before the reinforcement could be landed. Every man, 
therefore, capable of bearing arms, was ready at his post, and a 
continued increasing fire, kept up on both sides during the 
greater part of the night, seemed the prelude to the dreadful 
affray. Soon after two in the morning, however, that of the 
enemy began visibly to slacken, and at three it entirely ceased ; 
nor could the motions of troops be any longer distinguished in 
their lines. The blaze of fires, however, in their trenches, and 
large piles of wood in flames were plainly perceived, as if to 
guide a retreating foe ; and in fact at day-break the whole army 
was discovered at some distance, in full march towards St. Tho- 
mas's mount, on their return to Pondicherry. The hurry and 
confusion with which they raised the siege were evident in their 
leaving behind them a vast quantity of stores, above 40 pieces 
of heavy cannon, and their sick and wounded m the hospital, 
recommended in a letter by Lally to the humanity of the English 
governor, which was exerted in their favour. The loss during 

* Ormc, Vol. III. p. 455, arid Cambridge, p. 204, where sec the journal of the 
siege. 



t 654 1 



£A. D. 176c. 



the whole siege amounted in killed, wounded, and taken pri- 
soners, to 33 officers, and, of rank and file in the battalions of 
Europeans, 559 ; of the sepoys, lascars, and others, including 
deserters, nearly 700, no inconsiderable proportion of the whole 
garrison ! The loss of the French in these respects was never 
exactly ascertained.* 

Shortly after the English army took the field under Major 
Brereton. The great commercial towns of Conjeveram and 
Masulipatam were successively taken possession of by himself 
and Major Ford, so that the French trade on that extensive 
coast, abounding in population and rich in manufactures, was 
soon almost confined to Pondicherry. Near the close of 1 759 
Colonel Coote invested and took Wandewash, which in the 
following year roused the utmost exertions of General Lally to 
recover it. The army he collected for this purpose amounted 
to above 2000 Europeans, together with treble the number 
of black troops, and at the head of these he pushed forward the 
siege with the utmost vigour. He had even proceeded so far as 
to make a practicable breach in the walls, when Colonel Coote 
appeared before Wandewash with an army of 1900 Europeans 
and about 3000 sepoys. After an obstinate and bloody engage- 
ment, fought on both sides with a bravery which the importance 
of the place inspired, Lally was completely defeated and fled, 
leaving above a thousand killed and wounded on the field of 
battle. He retired with the remainder of his routed troops to 
Pondicherry. The English, according to Mr. Orme, lost only 
£00 in killed and wounded, but the death of the gallant Brereton 
threw a shade over the triumph of victory.-f- This important 
victory was rapidly followed up by the siege and capture of 
Arcot, the capital of the province. At sea the efforts of the 
* Ibid. J * Orme, Vol. III. p. 589. 



A. D. 1760.3 £ 655 ] 



brave Admiral Pocock were distinguished by no less brilliant 
success. With eight ships only he attacked and defeated the 
French fleet of double that number, and compelled them to take 
shelter under the cannon of Pondicherry. After the capture of 
Carical and one or two other fortresses in the neighbourhood, 
which rapidly followed, that city soon became their only remain- 
ing port in that part of India, and it was determined immediately 
to invest it with all our forces by sea and land. 

That magnificent city, upon which such immense sums had 
been lavished by the French, extended along the coast about a 
mile and a quarter, and was about three quarters of a mile in 
breadth. It was at this period considered as the finest city, and 
the best fortified, of any in India. The palace erected for the 
residence of its ostentatious viceroys, its noble citadel, its vast 
magazines, its beautiful bazar, its lofty gates, and walls flanked 
with bastions, eleven in number, and mounted with 500 pieces 
of cannon, rendered it worthy to be called the metropolis of a 
great nation. On the land side it was inclosed, as many cities 
in India are, about a mile from the walls, by a hedge of large 
aloes, prickly pears, and other thorny plants, called the Round- 
hedge, intermixed with great numbers of cocoa-nut and palm- 
trees, altogether forming a defence impenetrable to cavalry, and 
of very difficult passage to infantry. This Bound-hedge was 
farther strengthened by five redoubts commanding the five 
roads that led into the town. To enter into the particulars of this 
famous siege, or rather blockade, so well and so minutely de- 
tailed by Mr. Orme, is unnecessary. Suffice it to say, that after 
the bravest possible exertions for a period of seven months on 
the part of the besieged, their supplies being entirely cut off", so 
that provisions for bnly ten days more remained for the support 
of 2000 persons, of which the garrison consisted, the haughty 



Z 6 5 6 2 £A.D. 1761. 



X,ally consented, without any conditions, to surrender the city. 
As the extirpation of the English from the maritime coast of India 
had been the avowed object of the French councils, and of all 
the governors down to Lally, evidenced in the utter destruction 
of Fort St. David's by the latter, a rigid retaliation was on this 
occasion adopted ; and the extensive fortifications, together with 
all the noble public and private buildings of Pondicherry were in 
a few months with much labour demolished, and the French 
capital of India for ever bowed the head. This important, this 
memorable event took place on the 16th of January, 1761. The 
fate of the brave but impetuous and unfortunate Lally ought not 
to be omitted. On his return to France, his numerous enemies 
prevailing, he was tried and convicted of having betrayed the 
interests of his country, and the East-India Company, and be- 
headed in the 65th year of his age ; a sentence which he bore 
with a firmness only to be paralleled by the black ingratitude 
that pronounced it. 

With the towers of Pondicherry fell the once colossal power 
of the French on the continent of India. Thiagar surrendered 
at discretion in February; and x the strong fortress of Gingea 
soon afterwards capitulated to Captain Smith, with only the 
honours of war allowed to its brave garrison. Thus finally 
terminated a war which had continued to rage, between the 
English and French, on the coast of Coromandel, with little 
intermission during fifteen years. In Bengal also we have seen 
their commerce and their government were alike annihilated. 
A few daring adventurers, however, retired to Mysore, where 
they were received with rapture by Hyder, who had recently 
usurped its sceptre, had publicly sworn the destruction of the 
English, and was secretly meditating the accomplishment of his 
path. But here a vast field, and new prospects of almost 



A. D. 1761 



unbounded extent begin to expand to the view of the historian. 
That field too has been already beaten by able and patriotic 
writers, who are well known, and may be readily consulted. 
Having now gradually traced the progress, in commerce and in 
conquests, of the different European nations, Portuguese, Spanish, 
Dutch, English, and French on the desolated shores of India, 
during a period of above 260 years, that is from the landing of 
the immortal Gama at Calicut, in A. D. 1498, down to the un- 
controlled establishment of the English power on those shores 
by the destruction of Pondicherry in A. D. 176*1, I trust I may 
retreat with honour from that field, and leave its future history to 
be recorded by the pen of others. 

Previously, however, to finally quitting it, the intimate connec- 
tion which affairs in the Company's principal settlement have 
with the preceding Mogul history, renders it necessary to take 
a last view of 

TRANSACTIONS IN BENGAL. 

in which province, and Bahar, it has before been observed, the 
fugitive prince, Ali Gohar, had, in 1758 and 1759, attempted to 
raise contributions and make conquests.* In this enterprize he 
was zealously assisted by Mr. Law, at the head of a French 
corps who had made their escape from Chandernagore, and had 
been permitted by the late Nabob to reside for some time on the 
northern frontiers of the provinces, but who afterwards was 
compelled to remove to Chitterpoor, as well as by several tur- 
bulent and disaffected Rajahs and Zemindars, who fighting under 
the royal banners hoped to obtain high distinction, and no small 
plunder. Among the latter, beside Mahommed Kuli Khan, 
Subahdar of Allahabad, who had given him protection at his 
capital, were Sunder Sing and Bulvvant Sing, of Benares, and 

* See page 591, preceding. 

1 1' 



C 658 j 



[A. D. 1.759. 



some partial success at first attended their arms ; but Colonel 
Clive, who at that time commanded in Bengal, rapidly advancing 
from Moorshedabad together with Meerum, the Nabob's son, at 
the head of the English army, soon checked their progress, 
and as we have before seen, drove them back beyond the 
Carumnassa. 

The prince, Hossain asserts, more than once wrote to the Co- 
lonel, offering him any terms for the Company, and himself, 011 
condition that the English would quit the Nabob and join his army : 
but Clive thinking it incompatible with the English treaty with the 
latter, declined the offer. His proffered services being thus con- 
scientiously rejected, in a few months he returned with a far 
more formidable force, and armed with all the terror of imperial 
authority, his father Aulumgeer having been recently assassi- 
nated ; but he was defeated in various successive conflicts with 
the English under Colonels Knox and Calliaud, and compelled 
again disgracefully to cross the Carumnassa. About the same 
time also the Mahrattas entered the province from the south- 
ward, and penetrated into the Burdwan country, making a consi- 
derable but unavailing diversion in favour of the prince, for they 
also were totally discomfited by Colonel Calliaud's troops in con- 
junction with those of the Nabob. The particulars of these con- 
flicts have in various publications been so amply detailed * to the 
public, and the result of all the prince's efforts to conquer Bengal 
and Bahar having been already stated to the reader, I shall not 
tread back the ground of history minutely to relate them ; but, as 
usual, keep only to its great outlines, and the leading events of 
the period under consideration. Towards the close of the 
campaign the Nabob's son was killed in his tent by lightning ; 

# For these details consult Gholaum Hossain, passim; also Holwell's " India 
Tracts," octavo, 1774, in which are inserted Colonel Calliaud's letters, addressed 
during the course of the campaign to himself, as governor. 



A. D. 



C 659 1 



extreme anguish for which event is said by our well informed 
native historian to have affected the intellects of Jaffier Khan, his 
father, (although nobody besides himself felt the smallest grief at 
his death, for he was a young man of the most cruel and profligate 
character) and to have been, in part, the occasion of that impor- 
tant change in the government, the particulars of which it now 
becomes necessary to record.* 

For a considerable period the internal administration of the 
province of Bengal had been most wretchedly conducted. Both 
Jaffier and his son had in their high station been guilty of 
the most atrocious crimes, and on the slightest occasions had 
freely used the dagger of assassination. These excessive cruel- 
ties, added to the oppressive exactions of the father, had rendered 
him equally obnoxious, both to the natives and the English. By 
his indolence too, and the defalcations of a train of worthless 
favourites, the revenues were become utterly inadequate to the 
support of the government. The council of Calcutta had long 
seen and regretted this scandalous deviation, from the line of 
principle and prudence, in the man whom they had exalted to its 
musnud. After violent and protracted debates among its members 
it was at length agreed upon by the majority of the board, to de- 
pose Jaffier Khan, and raise to the Nabobship, his son-in-law, that 
Cossim Ally Khan, of whom, in the preceding portion of Mogul 
history, we have prematurely been compelled to speak. Colonel 
Clive, it should be here remarked, after repelling the invasion 
of the Shah Zadda in the preceding year, had early in the pre- 
sent year ( 1760) resigned the government of Bengal, and taken 
his departure for Europe. Mr. Holwell, as oldest in council, 
succeeded to the presidency, which a few months afterwards he 
resigned to Mr. Vansittart, appointed to succeed the Colonel from 

* Gholaum Hossain p. 399. 



[ 66o 2 



£A. D. 176*1. 



Madras. Soon after his arrival, the new governor, and Colonel 
Calliaud, attended by a body of European troops and some sepoys, 
towards the close of the year 1760, having arrived at his capital 
of Moorshedabad, announced to the Nabob the fatal intelligence 
of his deposition from the musnud, which his crimes had dis- 
graced, and the elevation of his son to those honours having 
been determined upon at that presidency. Jaffier Khan at first 
fell into a violent rage, grossly abused the English, and menaced 
resistance ; but his palace being surrounded, and the gates secured, 
he was compelled to submit. Boats were at hand to convey him- 
self, his domestics, and his property in gold and jewels to a vast 
amount to Calcutta, which he preferred to a residence at Moor- 
shedabad, where he would be at the mercy of his son-in-law, 
whom he equally dreaded and detested, and Cossim, amidst the 
general exultation of the people, was immediately proclaimed his 
successor., 

In Cossim, however, the English government was deeply dis- 
appointed. With greater abilities and profounder policy than 
his predecessor, he pursued with vigour all the obnoxious pro- 
jects of his father-in-law in respect to the trade of the Company ; 
he greatly, but gradually, increased the numbers of his army, 
which he armed, clothed, and disciplined after the European 
manner, and rendered formidable by a well-appointed park 
of artillery ; while, to elude the cautious vigilance and in- 
spection of the English factory and agents of Moorshedabad, 
he removed the seat of his government from that capital to 
Mongheer, 200 miles higher up on the Ganges, which he forti- 
fied in the strongest manner possible. From this place he issued 
the severest decrees against both the judicial and commercial 
claims of the English in Bengal, and reversed all the immunities 
granted them by his predecessor, and confirmed by himself, 



A. D. 1762. j 



C 66! 3 



when advanced by them to the musnud. Mr. Vansittart, a just 
and worthy man, but wanting the spirit and vigour of a Clive, 
anxious to prevent an open rupture, undertook a journey to 
Mongheer, where he arrived in November, 1762, and entered 
into an amicable negociation with the Nabob, which terminated 
by his consenting to put the Company's commerce under certain 
restrictions, ( Hossain states it to be the payment of nine per cent, 
on articles of commerce) and he issued his orders accordingly, 
which were immediately circulated with avidity by Cossim 
through the whole province. But the terms of this treaty were 
thought disgraceful at Calcutta, and were indignantly annulled 
by the council. Unwilling, however, to come to extremities 
with the Nabob, a deputation of gentlemen, with Mr. Amyatt at 
their head, was, shortly after, dispatched to Mongheer with 
fresh proposals for an accommodation. In the object of their 
mission, however, they were completely unsuccessful ; and it 
seemed to be the determination of the tyrant to extirpate both 
the English and their trade ; for on their return to Calcutta, these 
gentlemen, though furnished by himself with the usual passports 
granted to persons employed in public embassy, in passing through 
Moorshedabad, were by his orders, basely fired upon ; Mr. 
Amyatt, and many of them killed, and the rest taken prisoners. 

Previously to this catastrophe, it was sufficiently evident that the 
Nabob was determined on hostilities, and Mr. Amyatt, in conse- 
quence, had written to Mr. Ellis, the chief of Patna, desiring him 
to be upon his guard against sudden surprise. Mr. Ellis, upon 
receipt of tins intelligence, and in the certainty that a declaration 
of war would be issued when the deputation reached Calcutta, 
resolved, when he conceived Mr. Amyatt was arrived within the 
boundaries of the Company, to be before-hand with the Nabob, 
and after consulting the military commander, formed the bold 



C 662 J 



[A. D. 1763. 



resolution one morning at day-break, when the Mogul guard 
were mostly off their posts, and not suspecting an attack, with their 
handful of troops of seizing on the city. Having scaled the walls 
without much opposition, the little army marched on in two divi- 
sions towards theicttadel, the garrison of which however resolutely 
held out, as well as the palace of the governor, in expectation of 
speedy relief. All the rest of the city was in their possession, 
but unfortunately, instead of keeping firmly together, the soldiers, 
allured by the riches of that great city, began to disperse and 
plunder the bazar and the houses of the opulent inhabitants. 
This imprudent step totally ruined an enterprize commenced, it 
must be owned, with more spirit than foresight, for detachments 
pouring in from all quarters soon overpowered the English, and 
after a short but brave resistance, they were completely routed, 
and pursued across the river, where they were all either destroyed 
or taken prisoners. Among the latter were Mr. Ellis, the chief; 
Mr. Lushington, and many other gentlemen, very highly esteemed 
in India, and very respectably connected in England. Inflamed 
with this temporary triumph, the Nabob immediately issued 
orders to the officers of the several districts for the indiscriminate 
slaughter of all Englishmen found in them, and it is possible that 
the massacre of the deputies at Moorshedabad might be the con- 
sequence of those orders ; but as embassadors, in every event 
of peace, or war, their persons ought to have been considered as 
sacred. 

When intelligence of this cruel and daring outrage arrived at 
Calcutta, the grief of the gentlemen of the council was alone 
to be equalled by their indignation. They immediately deter- 
mined on the deposition of Meer Cossim, and a negociation was 
commenced with Meer Jaffier for his restoration to the musnud, 
which was speedily terminated by his assenting to all the articles 



A. D. 1763.] C 663 ] 



dictated by them, as the condition of that restoration, excepr 
four ; and those were of such minor importance, that at a 
future board they agreed to alter them according to his wishes :* 
he was in consequence of this assent, and a solemn promise 
to avoid former errors in government, once more proclaimed 
soubahdar at Calcutta ; and on the 17th of July, 1763, attended 
by Major Adams, and an army small in number, but resolute in 
mind to revenge the murder of their countrymen, re-ascended 
the musnud at Moorshedabad, the ancient capital of the province. 
To pass over partial and less important actions, which would 
necessarily occupy the space destined to events of greater mag- 
nitude and moment, the enemy having collected their whole 
force had encamped on the plain of Geriah, to attack which the 
English had to pass a nulla, or deep ravine, in the very face of 
them. That force consisted of twelve battalions of sepoys, regu- 
larly disciplined, and fifteen thousand horse, with seventeen pieces 
of artillery mounted in the English manner, and worked by 
European cannoneers. Cossim himself dreading the just ven- 
geance of the English for his unparalleled perfidy, should iie fall 
into their hands, was not with his army, hut kept at a secure 
distance at Mongheer, and afterwards removed higher up the 
Ganges to Patna. The total amount of the British on this occa- 
sion did not exceed three thousand men. After an obstinate 
contest of four hours, in the course of which the English line 
was for a moment broken in upon, the latter gained a com- 
plete victory, and a booty adequate to the magnitude of the royal 
army. Pursuing their Victorious career, they arrived at Mong- 
heer, which the tyrant had made liis capital. To this city, 

* Consult the treaty, consisting of thirteen articles, in Vansittart's Bengal, 
Vol. III. p. 340. 



C 6S 4> 3 



CA.D.17% 



fortified in the best manner the time would admit of, they were 
obliged to lay a regular siege, and the defence was more than 
usually vigorous ; at length, however, the assailants having 
made a practicable breach, the garrison, consisting of 2000 sepoys, 
after a siege of nine days capitulated. Here the army received 
the afflicting intelligence that the cruel tyrant had caused to be 
barbarously murdered the whole of the English prisoners, 
amounting to nearly two hundred, except Dr. Fullarton, who, 
in his medical capacity, having been serviceable to himself, and 
some of the great men of his court, had a few days before been 
set at liberty. 

In fact Cossim had, in a previous letter to Major Adams, an- 
nounced his determination to exact this diabolical revenge if he 
advanced with the army to Mongheer. The Major returned 
him for answer, that if he touched a hair of their heads he should 
have no mercy from the English, who would pursue him to the 
utmost extremity of the earth. The prisoners had been com- 
mitted by Cossim to the care of a renegado French officer, 
his favourite general, named Sumroo, whose mortal enmity to 
the English nation seemed to render him the proper instrument 
of so bloody a deed, the horror of which is increased tenfold by 
its having been committed under the roof of pretended hospi- 
tality. The English gentlemen were invited by this base assassin 
to a banquet to be served up after the English fashion, for which 
purpose he had previously borrowed all their knives and forks. 
On the entrance of messieurs Ellis, Hay, and Lushington, they 
fell the first victims, being respectively seized by the hair by one 
ruffian, while another was at hand to cut his throat. Resistance 
was made, but it was useless, for the English were unarmed 
except with bottles and plates, the only weapons of offence they 
could procure, while the murderers rushing in upon them in- 



A.D.i 763 t Wl 

indiscriminately levelled them with their carabines, or cut them 
down with their sabres ; and thus, to use the words of Colonel 
Fullarton, " they were all terribly mangled and cut to pieces, 
and then promiscuously thrown into a large well, in the court of 
the house, which was afterwards filled up."* 

Burning with revenge at this intelligence, the army with 
irresistable impetuosity pressed forward to Patna, where the 
object of their detestation was supposed to be, which after a 
resolute defence was taken by storm on the 6th of November, 
176*3. The Nabob however was too wise and circumspect to 
trust himself within the walls of any city attacked by the English : 
he contented himself with hovering;; near at the head of a select 
body of cavalry, from which he occasionally sent large detach- 
ments to harass the besieging enemy ; and when intelligence 
reached him of its surrender, he retired with precipitation to the 
banks of the Carumnassa, which he crossed on a bridge of boats, 
and entered the territories of Sujah Dowlah, towards the close of 
the year. 

The events that follow relative to Cossim's friendly reception 
at the court of Oucle, the vain glory of the Nabob Vizier, the vast 
preparation for invading Bahar and Bengal, and the fact itself of 
that invasion by his innumerable, but ill disciplined battalions, 
together with the battle of Buxar, given in more than usual 
detail, as being more strictly connected with the Mogul History |~ 
— that fatal battle in which 50,000 Indians were opposed to 5000 
of the company's troops, of which 1200 only were Europeans, 
are already before the reader. That decisive action took place, 
as there stated, in October 176'],. No place of consequence now 
remained to the enemy, but the strong and almost impregnable 
fortress of Chunar Ghur on the Ganges. That fortress, how- 

* VansitUrt's Bengal, Vol. III. p. 376. t S«e page 598 preceding, et scq. 

4»Q 



C 668 1 [A. D. 1764. 

ever, after a long and obstinate resistance, which the garrison 
was enabled to make from the many advantages afforded them 
by its elevated site on a rock, projecting into the river, was at 
length surrendered by the governor to the English, in January 
1765. It has been stated, that the Vizier in his panic, after the 
above victory of the English fled to Allahabad, another strong 
fort and city, 70 miles higher up the river, and constructed after 
the most approved rules of Indian architecture, by Sultan Akber, 
at the point where the Ganges and Jumna unite their streams. 
To this place he was pursued by the English general, and Alla- 
habad, however fortified to resist an Indian army, not being able 
to withstand the battery of English artillery, being quickly taken, 
he fled for refuge to the Mahratta chief Mulhar Row, by whom 
he was cordially received, and promised that assistance which he 
so anxiously solicited. He also dispatched messengers to the 
Rohilla Afghan chiefs, established on the northern frontier of 
Oude, imploring their aid to crush the common foe.* 

In the meantime his more sagacious minister, Beni Bahadur, 
despairing of success against a power to whom all opposition 
seemed unavailing, was endeavouring to open a negotiation, by 
means of a native rajah, high in the confidence of the English, 
named Chittabray. General Carnac, however, who had now 
succeeded to the command of the troops, refused to listen to 
any proposals for peace, without his previously delivering up 
to the just vengeance of the English, Cossim and his bloody 
agent, in the massacre of their countrymen at Patna, Sumroo. 
To these conditions the Vizier would not listen, honourably de- 
claring that he would rather lose his dominions than be guilty of 
such an act of perfidy, to men who had fled to him for protec- 
tion in the extremity of distress. To put it out of his power, in 
* Hossain, Vol. II. sect. 3, p. 365. 



A. D. tjfi&O 



C ™9 3 



any exigency to act thus treacherously, he immediately released 
them ; and both, it may be here remarked, after a variety of 
adventures, died miserably.* 

Early, too, in the present year, (1765) expired, the victim of 
age and grief, the Soubahdar himself, Jaffier Khan. Upon his 
death-bed he had nominated his eldest surviving son Nudjim al 
Dowlah, then about eighteen years of age, for his successor, and 
the Council at Calcutta, after due deliberation, confirmed that 
nomination. Before his elevation to the musnud, however, in 
several conferences which were holden with him by some of its 
members, deputed for the purpose to Moorshedabad, the strict 
line of conduct to be observed by him as Nabob, was pointed out 
and impressed upon the inexperienced youth. The necessity 
also of very considerable changes, both in the civil and military 
departments of the province, was forcibly inculcated, and finally 
acceded to by the young Nabob, though he struggled hard to 
retain at the head of affairs the profligate Nundcomar, the 
favourite, but the venal minister of his father. His intreaties in 
that respect were of no avail, and a minister of their own choice 
was appointed to him, to serve at once as the governor of his 
private, and the guide of his public life. Under these restrictions, 
which pa^t severe experience seemed to render requisite, he was 
installed Soubahdar of Bengal, Bahar and Ori.ssa, and the pro- 
found tranquillity enjoyed by those provinces after the submission 
of the Vizier, during his reign and that of his brother, who ra- 
pidly succeeded to his exalted station, evinced the wisdom of 
those precautions. 

On the absolute refusal of the Vizier to accede to the condi- 
tions proposed by the English general, the continuance of the 
war being rendered necessary, the Mahrattas, more faithful 

• ilossuin, I bill. 



CA. D. 17%. 



to Sujah, than his allies of the north, who with many professions 
had made no preparations for the campaign, eaily in May 1765 
took the field. Sujah Doulah had also, by great exertions, and 
promises of high rewards, assembled together a large proportion 
of the troops who fled before the enemy at Buxar, but who now 
united with the martial Mahratta race, thought themselves 
marching on to certain victory. On receiving intelligence of 
their approach, General Carnac, without a moment's delay, ad- 
vanced to meet them. He came up with them at a place called 
Calpi, where, after a conflict by no means sanguinary or pro- 
tracted, he entirely routed the combined armies, pursued their 
flying squadrons in every direction, nor gave over that pursuit 
until he had compelled the Mahrattas, the more formidable of 
the two, to recross the Jumna, and retire within their own 
frontiers. 

With respect to Sujah Dowlah himself, again defeated, des- 
ponding, his last stake ineffectually hazarded, he retreated with a 
few faithful bands to Ferukhabad, where Ahmed Khan Bunguish, 
the chief of that district, advised him in this extremity to throw him- 
self, at once, on the clemency of the English, who were as gene- 
rous as they were brave, and would not fail to pay every respect 
to an omrah of his rank and dignity in distress. With this advice, 
however grating to his feelings as a prince, and degrading to his 
character as a soldier, after due consideration, he resolved to 
comply ; and, accordingly, the next day set out in his palanquin, 
with a few unarmed attendants, for the English camp. Informed 
of his intentions and approach, Carnac, with some of his principal 
officers, advanced in the front of the camp to receive him. On 
seeing them, the Vizier alighted from his palanquin, and after 
mutual salutation, the English general led his noble guest to a 
tent where a splendid entertainment was prepared, of which the 



A. D. 1765a 

Vizier cordially partook, and after receiving the most solemn as- 
surances of perfect reconciliation and future friendship, towards 
evening departed to his own tents, which were pitched at some 
distance. Impressed with a deep sense of the generosity and 
frankness of the English, the Vizier soon after repeated his visit, 
and a treaty between himself and the English was expeditiously 
drawn up, by which he was re-instated in the full possession of 
all his dominions upon the following lenient conditions ; that he 
should pay fifty lacks of rupees, as an indemnification to the 
English for the expenses of the war, twenty-five lacks in ready 
money, and the remainder by assignments on the revenues of 
Oude ; that the province of Allahabad should be assigned for the 
sole use of the Emperor, and its city and fortress be allotted for 
his residence ; that a body of English should be stationed there 
as a guard to the Emperor's person ; and that from the day of its 
signature, the friends and enemies of the one party should be 
deemed the friends and enemies of the other, and of course that 
their armies should be mutually assisting, incase of war and in- 
vasion, on the express condition that the party soliciting succour 
should defray all the charges attendant on the troops sent to his 
assistance.* 

Such were the leading articles of the famous treaty of Alla- 
habad, which was mutually signed and ratified on the spot by tiic 
contracting powers, but expressly stated at the time, to be sub- 
ject to the final determination of Colonel Clive, who, about this 
time was expected in India to resume the government, with en- 
larged and almost unlimited powers. 

For a considerable time back, indeed, dissensions had arisen to 
a very great height, both in England and at Calcutta, in respect 
to many of the transactions, which we have thus rapidly sketched, 

• Hossain, sect. xi. p. 371. 



I 672 3 CA. D. 1765. 



dissensions that went almost to shake the existence of the Com- 
pany ; and no man was esteemed better able, from his profound 
knowledge of Indian affairs, and the concern which he had had 
in the exaltation of the Company to their present state of opu- 
lence and prosperity, to rectify errors, and settle matters on a 
permanent basis than that great warrior and statesman. Upon 
that account, powers thus vast and unprecedented were entrusted 
to him ; and whatever objections may, in other respects, be urged 
against that great man, he certainly in this instance did not abuse 
them, but acted with equal circumspection and wisdom, and at 
the same time with a firmness and vigour that entitles him a 
second time to the splendid denomination of the Saviour of India. 
On his actual arrival shortly after, Colonel, now Lord Clive, 
expeditiously hastened to Allahabad, and deing decidedly of 
opinion, though so victorious a commander, that to extend our 
conquests beyond certain limits, that is to say, beyond our powers 
of keeping possession, both in respect to the vast expense in- 
curred, and the number of troops necessary to be maintained 
for its defence, was inconsistent with sound policy ; also esteem- 
ing the Vizier's dominions the firmest possible barrier against 
the incursion of Afghans, Mahrattas, and other barbarous hordes 
who had so long desolated the northern frontiers, readily 
consented to ratify the above treaty. Of the fifty lacks stipulated 
as the price of peace, one half was in a few days paid down in 
money, and for the security of the remaining portion, jewels of 
very high value were pledged with the English commanders. 

Repeated interchanges of civility and mutual assurances of 
lasting friendship between the two parties had taken place, and the 
Vizier, in proof of it having given up the strong fortress of Chunar 
in exchange for Allahabad, which had been assigned for the resi- 
dence of the Emperor, the latter set off on his return to his own 



A. D. 1765.] 



dominions ; while the former remained at Allahabad to transact 
the important business of the Dewanny, which has been detailed 
in a former page, and by which a chartered body of merchants 
became, in rank and wealth, equal to sovereign princes. Nor, 
though the daring rapacity of some individuals, and the unprin- 
cipled ambition of others, may, in a few instances, have brought 
disgrace upon the English character in Asia, have they ever for- 
feited their title to those distinguished honours ; for, making those 
due allowances which by candour will ever be made for human 
passion and human frailty, and taking into consideration the mag- 
nitude and intricacy of their concerns, it may be truly affirmed 
that, as a body of men, their conduct has been such, as reflects 

CREDIT UPON THEMSELVES, AND DOES HONOUR TO THEIR COUNTRY. 



flrmaun from the klng sl-iah aulum, granting the dewanny 
of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, to the Company. Dated 
August 12TH, 1765. 

At this happy time, our royal firmaun, indispensably requiring 
obedience, is issued : that whereas, in consideration of the at- 
tachment and services of the high and mighty, the noblest of 
nobles, the chief of illustrious warriors, our faithful servants and 
sincere well-wishers, worthy of our royal favours, the English 
Company, we have granted them the Dewanny of the provinces 
of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, from the beginning of the Fussul 
Rubby of the Bengal year 1171, as a free gift and Ultumgau, 
without the association of any other person, and witli an exemp- 
tion from the payment of the customs of the Dewanny, which 
used to be paid to the court ; it is requisite that the said Company 
engage to be security for the sum of twenty-six lacks of rupees 



t 6 U 3 [4. D. 1765. 

a year, for our royal revenue, which sum has been appointed 
from the Nabob Nudjum ul Dowlah Bahader, and regularly 
remit the same to the royal Sircar : and in this case, as the said 
Company are obliged to keep up a large army for the protection 
of the provinces of Bengal, &c. we have granted to them what- 
soever may remain out of the revenues of the said provinces, 
after remitting the sum of twenty-six lacks of rupees to the royal 
Sircar, and providing for the expences of the Nizamut : it is re- 
quisite that our royal descendants, the Viziers, the bestowers of 
dignity, the Omrahs high in rank, the great officers, the Mutta- 
seddees of the Dewanny, the managers of the business of the 
Sultanut, the Jagheerdars and Croories, as well the future as the 
present, using their constant endeavours for the establishment of 
this our royal command, leave the said office in possession of the 
said Company, from generation to generation, for ever and ever; 
looking upon them to be insured from dismission or removal, 
they must on no account whatsoever give them any interruption, 
and they must regard them as excused and exempted from the 
payment of all the customs of the Dewanny, and royal demands. 
Knowing our orders on the subject to be most strict and positive, 
let them not deviate therefrom. 

Written the 24th of Sophar of the 6th year of the Jaloos, 
(the 12th of August, 1765.) 



FINIS. 



London : Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. 
Cleveland-Row, St. Jimes's. 



